In April of 2024, the Department of Education approved New Title IX rules, which are scheduled to take effect on August 1, 2024. Our firm is closely monitoring ongoing challenges to these new rules in court, and is working hard to provide you the most up-to-date information. Click here to learn about the current state of Title IX and how we can help if you are facing accusations.
Colleges in Michigan might have a reputation as the best in the country, but they still pay short shrift to a student's rights during a disciplinary proceeding, especially if the accusation is for sexual misconduct under Title IX. If you are the student facing these accusations, you can find the investigation and hearing process to be frustratingly stacked against your interests.
In some cases, your school's aggressive prosecution can violate your due process rights. Petitioning the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to provide oversight in your case can ensure that your rights are preserved. Hiring a lawyer to craft your OCR complaint can make a huge difference.
The Office for Civil Rights Protects Students
In the U.S. Department of Education, one of the agencies tasked with enforcing federal law in the higher education setting is the Office for Civil Rights. Unfortunately, the OCR cannot pay attention to every disciplinary proceeding in the country, and will only act if it receives a persuasive complaint that urges it to action within 180 days of the alleged violation.
How OCR Investigations Work in Michigan
If the OCR finds that your complaint has merit and should be investigated, it will conduct an inquiry of its own. While this often covers the same evidence that your school's investigation looked at, the OCR's is independent and unbiased. Additionally, the OCR focuses its attention on your school's conduct, not your own. However, because the OCR's investigation is limited to the allegations you make in your OCR complaint, crafting a broad and persuasive complaint is essential.
When the OCR wraps up its investigation, if it finds that your school violated your rights then mediation is often the next step. Your school has to come to the table and negotiate, or else it can face administrative penalties that can implicate its federal funding.
Retaliation Prohibited During the OCR Investigation
While the OCR is conducting its investigation, your school cannot intimidate or retaliate against you. If they do, it can serve as the impetus for another OCR complaint and a subsequent investigation.
How Most Cases Settle
Once the OCR initiates its investigation, though, most colleges in Michigan make renewed efforts to settle the case quickly. For this reason, the OCR offers the process of Facilitated Resolution Between the Parties, a settlement procedure that encourages you and your school to come to a mutually beneficial agreement about your conflict.
While the OCR does not endorse any agreement that comes of Facilitated Resolution if your school violates any of the terms and conditions of your agreement it can become the source of another OCR complaint and another investigation.
Michigan's OCR Complaint and Title IX Lawyer
Joseph D. Lento is a student discipline defense lawyer who advises students in Michigan who have been accused of sexual misconduct and Title IX violations. In many of these cases, implicating the OCR in your case can help keep your rights intact. With Joseph D. Lento's help, you can file a strong complaint with the agency that protects your rights. Contact him online or by phone at 888-535-3686 for help.
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Students and parents at times do not realize until after a finding of responsibility and the imposition of adverse sanctions that sexual misconduct allegations at college can result in severe consequences academically and professionally and in the short and long-term. The earlier the necessary steps are taken to address a Title IX case, the better, because these are cases that can be won at the school-level. There are times, however, that the help of the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (DOE-OCR) is needed and Joseph D. Lento has a decade of experience passionately fighting for the futures of his clients at colleges and universities throughout the nation and has helped many clients seek recourse with the DOE-OCR. He does not settle for the easiest outcome, and instead prioritizes his clients' needs and well-being. Joseph Lento is a licensed attorney in New Jersey and New York, who helps students in Michigan with DOE-OCR Title IX complaints, is admitted as an attorney pro hac vice in state and federal court if needed when representing clients nationwide, and serves as a Title IX advisor to students facing disciplinary cases in Michigan and throughout the nation. Make certain your or your student's interests are protected - Contact National Title IX attorney Joseph D. Lento today.
