If you're attending college in the Denver area, you already know what a special place it is to be spending your college years. In addition to being one of the most interesting cities in the entire Western US, Denver's proximity to multiple recreational opportunities make it a unique choice for students who want to both pursue an education and enjoy the outdoors. But your ability to appreciate all the Denver Metropolitan Area and your college have to offer can vanish in an instant if you are accused of Title IX misconduct. Suddenly, instead of worrying about your next test or planning a weekend of skiing or hiking, you're focusing on whether or not you will even be able to remain in school when the Title IX investigation and disciplinary proceeding has concluded.
This is why it's vitally important if you have been accused of Title IX misconduct to be working with an experienced attorney from the Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team. We understand the complicated and often-changing Title IX rules and regulations, and we regularly defend students accused of Title IX misconduct by their schools all across the United States, including in the Denver Metropolitan Area. Call us today at 888.535.3686 or use our contact form to set up a confidential consultation to learn more about how the Lento Law Firm can help you protect your future.
What is Title IX?
Title IX is a shorthand name that applies to a comprehensive set of federal rules, regulations, and procedures that protect against discrimination and harassment based on sex, sexual orientation, sexual identification, and pregnancy and parenting status. The types of misconduct that Title IX prohibits includes things like sexual harassment, sexual assault, non-consensual sexual contact, stalking, dating or relationship violence, and discrimination based on the range of protected classes defined by Title IX. It applies to schools that accept Federal funding, including colleges, high schools, and grade schools. The exact scope of Title IX changes frequently depending on the presidential administration, and on how the US Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights enforces it. Schools must frequently adapt to accommodate these changes, and for various reasons, schools often fail to properly or fairly enforce Title IX.
There is a tremendous incentive for colleges and universities to enforce Title IX rules and regulations on campus. If they fail to do so, they can lose federal funding and also face significant fines from the Department of Education. Because Title IX enforcement on campus is left up to the schools, schools will often overcompensate in order to show the Department of Education that they are taking their Title IX enforcement obligations seriously. This means that schools will often favor accusers over the rights of the accused. It also means that when a school finds that a student has committed a Title IX violation, they will tend to sanction that student severely, for example, by suspending or even expelling them.
Schools may even discriminate against accused students during the early stages of the Title IX process by imposing “interim” measures that can turn the accused student's college experience upside down. These are discussed in more detail below. Working with an experienced student defense attorney from the Lento Law Firm can help protect you against the kinds of unfairness and discrimination that schools can impose during the Title IX investigation process, as well as, in the course of any disciplinary proceeding that may follow.
Protecting Yourself in Title IX Cases
Denver is home to a number of fine Universities, such as the University of Denver, the Metropolitan State University of Denver, the University of Colorado at Denver, and Regis University. There is also Columbia College in Aurora, a number of campuses of the Community College of Denver, and other community colleges found all across the Denver Metropolitan Area.
If you're attending one of these schools or another college in the area, you know how important your education is to your future. You are devoting a substantial amount of your time and probably financial resources to your education in the hopes that it will benefit you for decades to come. A Title IX misconduct accusation, however, can throw a huge roadblock in front of your future plans. This is when you need the help of an experienced Title IX attorney to fight for your rights and to defend you against the allegations you're facing.
The Lento Law Firm's attorneys can help you from the very start of your Title IX case. We will review the allegations made against you, explain to you what the potential sanctions might be, investigate the facts surrounding the allegations made against you, and help you throughout what can be a lengthy and stressful Title IX investigation. We can prepare you for your interview with the Title IX investigator, and we can even sit with you during the interview to help make sure you understand the questions you've been asked and that the questions you're asked are fair.
Our attorneys can help in other ways, too. We can conduct our own investigation of the allegations against you to uncover evidence that the school's investigator might miss, disregard, or consider unimportant. We can also negotiate with your school to resolve the Title IX allegations that were made against you in a way that does not seriously impact your college career or your future. Of course, when necessary, we will vigorously defend you at your disciplinary hearing and protect your rights throughout the entire proceeding.
Stages in a Title IX Case
The Title IX Misconduct Report
All Title IX cases begin with a report of alleged misconduct. Typically these reports come from other students, but they can also come from anyone including school faculty or staff as well as members of the public.
Schools make it very easy to file Title IX allegations. The University of Denver has an “Office of Equal Opportunity and Title IX” whose web page provides a direct link for anyone to report a Title IX misconduct violation. Anyone filing a report may do so anonymously or by providing their contact information, though the school notes that “Anonymous reports may significantly limit our ability to review a matter.” The Metropolitan State University of Denver's Office of Equal Opportunity has a similar direct link on its home page that allows anyone to file a Title IX complaint. The Community College of Denver maintains a discrimination and harassment webpage that provides instructions and a link for students, employees, and others to report allegations of discrimination or harassment.
In short, it's very easy for students and others to file Title IX misconduct complaints. Each school will have its own way for students to do this. In many cases, there may be more than one way to file a Title IX complaint, for example, by contacting the school's Title IX coordinator by email, by phone, or even in person.
Title IX Investigation
Once a Title IX misconduct allegation is received, the school will typically assign it to an investigator who will then review the allegations that were made against the accused student. Many Title IX allegations relate to non-consensual sexual contact, sexual assault, and dating or relationship violence. They may also be based on allegations that one student has discriminated against another based on the sex, sexual orientation, sexual identification, or some other protected status of the accuser.
In almost all cases, a Title IX investigator will interview the accuser and the accused student. They may also interview witnesses, if there are any, and may seek to review emails, text messages, photographs, videos, and other types of evidence that may relate to the alleged Title IX misconduct.
None of this will happen without notice. If you are accused of Title IX misconduct, you will receive a written notice from your school that explains the allegations made against you, the investigation process, the disciplinary process, and any interim steps that may be taken while the investigation is underway. The sooner you contact the Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team after receiving this notice, the sooner our experienced Title IX attorneys can begin defending you against the allegations that you are facing.
The interim steps that schools may take in Title IX cases can feel very punitive, especially since the schools will also say that you, as the accused student, are considered to be not responsible for the allegations made against you until the school's disciplinary process has determined otherwise. despite that statement, it can feel very punitive if any of these steps are taken in your case. You may be required to do any or all of the following:
- Change your class schedule so that you and your accuser are not in the same classroom at the same time; sometimes you may have to drop the class if another section isn't available
- Change your work schedule if you are working in an on-campus job, you and your accuser cannot work at the same time. If the two of you work together at the same place, in some cases, you may be forced to quit that job
- Move out of your campus housing, either to another dormitory, or off campus completely so that you and your accuser are not living in the same building at the same time
- In some cases, your school may force you to take a “voluntary” leave of absence during the investigation process
One of the significant benefits of working with an experienced Title IX attorney at this point in your Title IX case is that your attorney can argue against your school trying to take extreme interim measures in their effort to protect your accuser. We can use our experience to help your school arrive at solutions that will allow you to continue your education and to experience college in as normal a way as possible while the investigation and disciplinary process are underway while still respecting the right of the accuser to feel safe on campus.
When the Title IX investigator has completed the investigation, they will produce a written report that they will submit to the school's Title IX office. Before that report is finalized, you and the accuser should have an opportunity to review the draft and comment on the contents of the report. Your Title IX attorney can be extremely helpful at this stage of the process. By pointing out evidence that the Title IX investigator has missed, disregarded, or improperly characterized, your attorney can lay the groundwork for a successful defense against the allegations made against you. In some cases, it can even result in the report being revised so that it reflects the points that your attorney makes on your behalf.
The Formal Title IX Complaint
Once your school's Title IX office receives the final version of the investigator's report, it will review the report and determine whether to bring formal Title IX charges against you. In some cases, the office may decide to close the matter without bringing charges against you. If it does, your accuser will be able to appeal the decision.
If, on the other hand, the Title IX office decides to move against you, it will send you a formal complaint that will detail the allegations made against you, the misconduct that you are accused of committing, and in many cases, the sanctions that the school intends to impose on you as a result.
You will have an opportunity to respond to the complaint in writing. This again is an area where your Title IX attorney can provide extremely valuable assistance. At the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team, our attorneys understand how to respond to Title IX formal complaints in a timely way that helps protect the rights of our student clients, and defends them against the allegations made in the complaint.
Negotiations
Most Title IX cases settle with a written agreement between the accused student and the school. There are two ways these settlements happen. One is for the student to simply accept both the allegations made against them in the formal complaint and the sanctions that the school proposes. The other way is for the student to negotiate with the school to modify what the student is agreeing to in terms of the allegations made against the student and the penalties that the school is imposing on the student.
Working with an experienced Title IX attorney can make all the difference in how the case against you is resolved. At the Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team, our experienced attorneys are regularly able to negotiate much more favorable terms for resolving Title IX accusations made against our student clients than what the schools originally proposed. Of course, the results we achieve vary from case to case and depend heavily on the facts of each individual case. But it is safe to say that your best chance of achieving a more favorable resolution of your case is by working with an experienced Title IX attorney.
Hearings
Cases that do not resolve themselves through negotiation will move forward to a hearing. The hearing processes that schools use to resolve Title IX cases will vary depending on the Title IX rules that are then in effect. They can also vary depending on how the school chooses to implement those rules. Your Title IX attorney from the Lento Law Firm will know what your school's procedures are for its Title IX hearings. We will make sure you understand what is going to happen at your hearing, and we will prepare you for the process and any role that you may be expected to take during the hearing.
One thing that is extremely important to understand in connection with Title IX hearings is the burden of proof that applies. Unlike in criminal cases, where the accused is considered to be innocent until proven otherwise beyond a reasonable doubt, the standard of proof in Title IX cases is much lower.
If the Title IX hearing panel or decisionmaker believes that the accused student was more likely to have committed the misconduct than not, the accused student will be held responsible for that misconduct. In other words, if the decisionmaker or panel believes that it is 51% likely that the student committed the misconduct, the student will be found responsible and sanctions will be imposed.
Written Decision
The hearing panel will issue a written decision that explains their determination. A ruling in your favor can be appealed by your accuser, and a ruling that goes against you is one that you may be able to appeal. The written decision will also state what sanctions are to be imposed on you if it does go against you.
Appeal
Hearing decisions can be appealed. That said, the grounds for appeal are typically quite limited. In addition, you will be appealing to the very same school that just ruled against you. This can make appeals very difficult to win, but not impossible. Your Title IX attorney will advise you about the potential for a successful appeal if the hearing result is not in your favor.
Lawsuit
Students whose rights have been disregarded by their schools in Title IX cases are increasingly filing successful lawsuits against their schools for those violations. If your school has disregarded your rights, the applicable Title IX policies, or the school's own policies and procedures in the course of ruling against you in your Title IX case, it may be possible to file a lawsuit against the school to force it to review your case in a fair way. Your Title IX attorney can advise you if your case would support such a claim against your school, and when it does, the Lento Law Firm can file and pursue such a case on your behalf.
The Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team Can Help With Your Title IX Case in the Denver Metropolitan Area
If you have been accused of Title IX misconduct by another student or by your school in the Denver Metropolitan Area you need the help of an experienced Title IX attorney to protect your rights and defend against allegations that can end your collegiate career and seriously harm your future. You've worked too hard to get to where you are and are working too hard to build your future to have it all end because of a Title IX misconduct claim.
At the Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team, our experienced Title IX attorneys understand just how important your collegiate career is to you and to your future. Our attorneys regularly defend students accused of Title IX and other types of serious misconduct at colleges and universities all across the United States, including in the Denver Metropolitan Area. We understand the Title IX rules, regulations, and procedures, and we are ready to use that knowledge and our experience to help you protect your rights and defend you against allegations made in your Title IX case.
To learn more about how the Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team can help you protect yourself in your Title IX case, call us at 888.535.3686 or use our contact form to schedule a confidential consultation with one of our experienced Title IX attorneys. You have a lot at stake when you're facing Title IX accusations; let the Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team help you defend yourself.
