Judicial decisions across the country continue to document sex bias in Title IX decisions. When schools charge students with Title IX sexual misconduct, the school has the statutory and regulatory obligation to treat the accused student fairly. Yet case after case confirms that schools are not doing so. Disciplinary officials at all school levels, from high school through college and into graduate and professional programs, are holding innocent students responsible for conduct the accused student did not commit. Innocent students continue to suffer unjust suspension, dismissal, or other discipline because of school sex bias.

The Obligation to Treat Accused Students Fairly

Title IX prohibits sex discrimination in education. Ordinarily, Title IX complaints involve accusations that a student sexually assaulted or harassed another student in ways that the school must address. Yet Title IX disciplinary proceedings are also subject to Title IX's prohibition against sex discrimination. The school disciplinary official who presumes the accused student's guilt without evidence or while ignoring exonerating evidence because the school official harbors a sex bias violates Title IX's prohibition on sex discrimination. The Title IX regulation 34 CFR Section 106.45 makes explicit Title IX's requirement that schools treat the accused student fairly, without sex bias, in the disciplinary proceeding: “A recipient's treatment of a complainant or a respondent in response to a formal complaint of sexual harassment may constitute discrimination on the basis of sex under Title IX.” If your school disciplines you out of the sex bias of school officials, as court decisions continue to show occurs, your school is violating your Title IX rights.

Court Decision Finding Sex Bias in School Discipline

The court decisions show the various kinds of sex bias in which school disciplinary officials are engaging to hold innocent students responsible for Title IX sexual misconduct the accused students did not commit. If you face Title IX charges at your school, be on the watch for and actively guard against these forms of sex bias, reflected in the cited cases:

• Charges overwhelmingly only against male rather than female students, Doe v. Regents of the University of California Los Angeles, No. 20-55831 (9th Cir. Jan. 11, 2022)
• One-sided investigations that take no account for the accused student's exonerating evidence, Doe v. University of Denver, 10th Cir. No. 19-1359, 2021 WL 2426199 (10th Cir. June 15, 2021)
• Invariably holding male accused students responsible for sexual misconduct no matter the exonerating evidence, Schwake v. Arizona Board of Regents, 967 F.3d 940, 949 (9th Cir. July 29, 2020)
• Selective investigation ignoring substantial material evidence exonerating the accused male student, Doe v. University of Sciences, 961 F.3d 203, 210 (3d Cir. May 29, 2020)

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