Even though the coronavirus has closed schools across the country, Title IX proceedings are continuing from allegations made while school was still in session and students were still on campus. While schools have largely...
The coronavirus is upending nearly every aspect of life in America, and schools and colleges are far from the exception. Many have closed and send students home, and have even cancelled major sporting events like March Madness. As...
What Happens When Schools Want to Prove to Everyone That They’ve Reformed Their Title IX Policies?
March 18, 2020
A staff member in the troubled Chicago Public School system has been removed from their position after an allegation that they had inappropriate interactions with a student in the school. Incidents like these highlight the...
How Do Prior Settlements Impact Future Title IX Cases Demanding Institutional Liability for a Student’s Misconduct?
March 16, 2020
A newly-dismissed Title IX lawsuit exemplifies the ongoing battle over institutional liability for student-on-student sexual misconduct. The invisible player in these cases, though, is the growing body of settlements...
The Oregon Department of Education is Being Used Under Title IX for Trying to Avoid Being Sued Under Title IX
March 12, 2020
High school students in Oregon are getting a first-hand taste of the double-edged sword that can be Title IX. The federal law forbids gender discrimination in education settings, and women seek to enforce it by...
Why is a College Being Accused of Covering Up Evidence to Help Someone Accused of Sexual Misconduct?
March 10, 2020
Title IX law is in constant flux, with new rules and legal challenges continuing to shape how schools, colleges, and other institutions handle sex-based misconduct and discrimination. Our firm closely monitors these...
The vast majority of the newspaper articles written about Title IX law and sexual misconduct in the higher education setting are stilted, one-sided, and overly-simplistic. Most focus exclusively on the trauma suffered by...
Victims’ Advocates Often Claim that 1-in-5 Women are Raped in College, But Does the Study Actually Say That?
March 7, 2020
One of the most often-cited statistics about sexual assault and rape on college campuses is that “one out of every five women is raped during college.” The number, which comes from a 2007 survey, was a...
A student at Ohio University claims that she was sexually assaulted, raped, and emotionally abused by a football player at the school. She has filed a Title IX complaint against the football player as well as...
OCR Announces Initiative to Enforce “Pass the Trash” Laws in K-12 Schools, But Can It Work?
February 28, 2020
In a recent press release, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a sweeping new initiative into handling sexual assault in elementary and secondary public schools across...
How Can Title IX Claims Undermine Important College Budgeting Decisions?
February 27, 2020
A college in Minnesota is having difficulty on the backend of a Title IX lawsuit over its sports teams, with plaintiffs now claiming that it violated a court order to maintain the women’s programs that it had...
Why is Everyone Angry Over USA Gymnastics’ Settlement Offer to End Nassar Scandal?
February 26, 2020
The civil sexual misconduct claims surrounding Michigan State and Larry Nassar, the team doctor for the U.S. gymnastics team, have continued with an initial settlement offer to the alleged victims. The process has many...
Why is the Data Misleading in School Reports of Campus Sexual Violence?
February 25, 2020
Another article in a student newspaper tries to make sense of sexual misconduct allegations on campus but misses the mark. In this case, like in many of the others before it, undue attention is paid to reported...
What Do Title IX Funding Requests Say About the Investigation System?
February 20, 2020
Advocates for victims of sexual assault on college campuses make a lot of demands. One of their regular requests that does not get much media attention, though, is for more funding for Title IX offices at their...
Three Ways the Harvey Weinstein Trial Sheds Light on Title IX Cases
February 18, 2020
The ongoing rape trials of Harvey Weinstein might not involve a higher education setting, but they do inform and exemplify some of the most pressing issues in Title IX cases: The extremely high importance...
What Makes a Fraternity a “Social” One that Exempts It from Title IX?
February 13, 2020
In our last blog post, we looked at a recent court ruling that threw out a Title IX claim that fraternities had to admit women, or else they were committing gender discrimination. The case was an easy one because...
Why Was It Easy for a Judge to Dismiss a Title IX Case Claiming Discrimination After a Fraternity Refused Women Admission?
February 8, 2020
A federal court judge in Connecticut has dismissed a Title IX allegation that once again strained to aggrandize the scope of the law banning gender discrimination in education settings. That lawsuit had claimed...
Why are Students Protesting Title IX Policies at Dickinson College?
February 6, 2020
Students at Dickinson College are staging a sit-in to protest deficiencies in the college’s Title IX process. Those issues, after simmering behind the scenes for years, were thrown into the limelight by an article...
Could Upcoming Amendments Patch Up Discrepancies Between Title IX Law and the Violence Against Women Act?
January 31, 2020
There are actually several different federal laws that are concerned with sexual misconduct in the higher education setting. In addition to Title IX, there is also the Clery Act and the Violence Against...
An op-ed recently published in the Los Angeles Times criticizes the upcoming amendments to Title IX regulations. While the piece makes a good point on the need for experienced panel members to hear allegations...