The Department of Education released its anticipated proposed Title IX rule this past Friday – entering the formal notice and comment period. Those who wish to comment have 60 days – which will run concurrent with the holiday season. A time when institutions of higher education typically shut down for several weeks. One of the most notable […]
As an attorney who specializes in Title IX compliance, and works in the area of sexual misconduct both in the workplace and education environments, I was glued to the TV watching the live testimony from both Judge Brett Kavanaugh and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and the subsequent press coverage. I am going to refrain from providing […]
On March 5, 2018, the Office for Civil Rights issued a revised Case Processing Manual. This manual contains the procedures that the Office for Civil Rights should follow to “promptly and investigate and resolve complaints, compliance reviews and directed investigations to ensure compliance with the civil rights laws and regulations enforced by OCR.” The changes […]
I have spent the last two weeks mulling over some fundamental questions surrounding the Title IX debate. Is the system broken? Did the Obama-era OCR need to release the 2011 DCL and take the subsequent enforcement actions? If flaws did exist, did DeVos need to rescind the 2011 guidance? And did the new 2017 guidance […]
Today Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced the launch of a notice and comment process to replace the current campus approach in responding to alleged incidents of sexual misconduct under Title IX. As I always say, the one thing constant is change. DeVos’ speech was riddled with examples of where the current campus system formulated […]
Last night, President Trump’s administration withdrew federal guidance previously issued by the Office for Civil Rights in a Dear Colleague Letter. The May 2016 guidance under former President Obama allowed students to use school bathrooms that match their gender identity and extended Title IX’s reach to protect students on the basis of sexual identity. Yesterday’s […]
Post Election Title IX – The Toothpaste is out of the Tube As 2016 comes to an end, and institutions look forward to 2017, every institution should also be evaluating its compliance efforts with Title IX and related laws and regulations. All of you in the trenches on campuses across the country are left wondering […]
In yet another development in transgender law in public schools, a federal judge in Texas has blocked the Obama administration from enforcing new guidelines that were intended to expand restroom access for transgender students across the country. The district court judge found that the government had not complied with federal law when it issued “directives […]
The Department of Education published an updated edition of The Handbook for Campus Safety and Security Reporting, or the Clery Handbook, on June 23, 2016. The updated handbook contains provisions with respect to, among other things, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 that took effect on July 1, 2015. Institutions are expected to […]
Baylor University’s board of regents recently announced its intent to terminate its head football coach, sanction and place its athletics director on probation and re-assign its university President in the wake of the results of an independent investigation into its handling of sexual assault cases. Thereafter, the athletics director resigned. This investigation followed allegations that […]
