If you're enrolled in a college or university anywhere in the New York metropolitan area, you have already made the decision to challenge yourself in one of the most competitive areas on the planet. Along with dealing with the day-to-day challenges of living in the New York area, you are taking on the additional burdens of pursuing your education at one of the dozens of excellent colleges and universities with campuses in and around NYC. With all that's at stake, the last thing you need is for your schooling to come to a halt because of a Title IX misconduct allegation.
The Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team is here to help you protect your future if you're accused of Title IX misconduct. Our experienced Title IX attorneys know how to protect your rights and defend you during a Title IX investigation and disciplinary hearing. Call us today at 888.535.3686 or use our contact form to schedule a confidential consultation to learn more about how we can help protect your future.
What is Title IX?
When Title IX was introduced in 1972, its goal was to bring an end to discrimination against women who were applying to colleges and to require colleges to provide the same opportunities to female students as they provided for male students. Since then, the scope of Title IX's protections has grown significantly. Now, Title XI protects against harassment and discrimination on college campuses and is enforced against students and college employees who commit misconduct that includes sexual assault, non-consensual sexual contact, stalking, dating or relationship violence, and discrimination based on pregnancy or parenting status, among other things.
Schools enforce Title IX because if they fail to do so they risk significant fines or even loss of federal funding, which virtually all schools accept and have come to rely on significantly. The Title IX rules require schools to implement certain policies and procedures designed to enforce Title IX's requirements on campus. One thing Title IX doesn't regulate is the sanctions that can be imposed on a student found to have committed Title IX misconduct. That's largely left up to the schools to figure out for themselves. Because of this, schools tend to punish Title IX misconduct severely, both as a deterrent and to prove to the federal government that the school is taking its Title IX enforcement obligations seriously. This is why so many Title IX misconduct cases end up with the accused student facing a lengthy suspension or even expulsion.
It would be one thing if schools were fair about how they investigate Title IX misconduct allegations and enforce Title IX's requirements against students found to have committed Title IX misconduct. But over and over again, we see examples of how schools don't act in an evenhanded manner when it comes to Title IX cases. Instead, they routinely favor the student who made the Title IX misconduct accusations at the expense of the rights of the accused student.
This is why you need an experienced Title IX attorney on your side if you've been accused of Title IX misconduct. Your school may begin treating you unfairly from the first day a Title IX investigation is underway, and you need the help of someone who knows what your rights are and how to assert those rights when your school decides to ignore them. The Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team includes attorneys who have years of experience dealing with the different ways schools attempt to ignore their obligations to the accused student in favor of the accuser. We'll call out your school when that happens and fight to level the playing field so that you're treated fairly throughout the entire Title IX investigation and disciplinary process.
Protecting Yourself in Title IX Cases
There are dozens of excellent colleges and universities in the New York metropolitan area, many of them at the top of their field and some that are known around the world. Columbia University (including Barnard College), New York University, Fordham University, Cooper Union, St. John's University, Cornell University's Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island in the East River, Brooklyn College, the State University of New York's (SUNY) campuses in Old Westbury and Stony Brook, Hofstra University in Hempstead, and many other 2- and 4-year colleges and universities in the New York together educate more than 900,000 students each year.
As a student at one of these educational institutions, you know that your education is just one step on the path to your future. But when a Title IX misconduct allegation throws a huge roadblock across that path, you need an experienced Title IX attorney to fight for your rights and defend you against the allegations.
Your Title IX attorney can help from day one. While Title IX investigations can take months to complete, many schools will implement interim measures very early on in the case that can have an immediate and punitive effect on your educational experience. If you're working with an experienced Title IX attorney when that happens, you'll have the best chance of convincing your school not to go overboard with forcing you to change how and even whether you're able to continue to learn during what can be a difficult and stressful period.
The Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team is ready to help you understand what's happening with your Title IX case every step of the way. We'll prepare you for your interview with the Title IX investigator and can sit with you to make sure you only answer clear, understandable questions. We will communicate with your school's Title IX office about your case and will make sure you meet any and all deadlines. In some cases, we'll conduct our own investigation to try to uncover evidence that may help you defend against the Title IX misconduct allegations. We can negotiate with your school to try to resolve your Title IX case in a way that allows you to continue your studies, and if your case goes to a hearing, we will fiercely defend you and your rights during the entire proceeding.
Stages in a Title IX Case
The Title IX Misconduct Report
Schools make it very easy for students and others to file Title IX misconduct reports. For example, NYU's “Title IX” page includes links to its “Reporting Options” page, which gives an email address, a link to a “secure online form,” a phone number, and an in-person address, any of which can be used to file a Title IX misconduct report with the school's Title IX office. Columbia University's “Title IX” page includes a link at the top to “Report an Incident” as well as a second “button” that can be clicked to “File a Report.” These both go to the same form, Columbia's “Gender-Based Misconduct, Including Stalking” report form. St. John's University encourages students to use email to file Title IX misconduct reports with the school. The City University of New York (CCNY) has a “Title IX Sexual Assault Policy” page that features a link to a fillable pdf form that can be completed and submitted to the school's Title IX office. Each school will have a slightly different way that students and others can use to report Title IX misconduct, and many schools will accept reports in a number of different ways.
The Title IX Investigation
After a Title IX misconduct report has been filed, and assuming it properly alleges Title IX misconduct, the school's Title IX office will assign an investigator to look into the allegations. Typical Title IX allegations involving students include non-consensual sexual contact, sexual assault, dating or relationship violence, and stalking, though there are other types of misconduct that can violate Title IX as well.
Both the accuser and the accused student will be notified that the investigation is underway, and the accused student will have a chance to respond to the notice, which will summarize the allegations made by the accuser. The day you receive this notice or very shortly thereafter is the best time to reach out to the Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team. The sooner one of our experienced Title IX attorneys is working with you, the more they can do to help defend you during the investigation period and afterwards.
Schools will also notify both parties of so-called “interim” or “supporting” measures that the school can put in place while the Title IX investigation is ongoing. On paper, these are for the benefit of both students, but in reality, they are mostly focused on the accuser. Aside from counseling, which may help both the accuser and the accused, schools often will try to force the accused student to:
- Vacate their dorm if the accuser lives in the same dorm complex;
- Change their class schedule or drop classes if they share sections with the accuser;
- Find a different on-campus job or a different shift at their current on-campus job if the accuser works at the same place as the accused;
- In some cases, take a forced “leave of absence” during the investigation.
Any or all of these can be imposed on the accused student even though schools will claim that the accused student is presumed to be “not responsible” until the school has ruled that they are responsible for the Title IX misconduct. If you have an experienced Title IX attorney in your corner, your lawyer can argue against the school imposing punitive “supporting” measures on you during the investigation and disciplinary stages of your Title IX case, providing other alternatives that will address the accuser's security concerns without unnecessarily disrupting your educational experience.
The investigator will interview you and your accuser. Your Title IX attorney can prepare you for the interview and can sit with you during the interview to make sure you are asked clear questions and that you understand each question before you answer it. The investigator may also interview witnesses who may have information relevant to the case, and may also seek documents, videos, photos, social media posts, texts, emails, and other information that may be relevant. In addition, each party can submit evidence to the investigator. In fact, at the Lento Law Firm, our Title IX attorneys will sometimes conduct their own investigation on behalf of their student clients to uncover evidence “missed” or just not considered by the Title IX investigator.
When the Title IX investigator has completed the investigation, they'll prepare a written summary of their findings. Both you and your accuser will be able to review a draft and provide comments before it's finalized and submitted to the Title IX office. If your Title IX attorney has been working with you from day one, reviewing and providing comments and suggestions on the draft findings will be much easier, which is important because you may only have a few days to review the report and provide comments on the draft. The comments can point out evidence that the report fails to take into consideration, poor reasoning; and other problems with the draft report. These may result in the report being revised in a way that helps your case.
The Formal Title IX Complaint
If the Title IX reviews the investigator's report and decides there is not enough evidence to hold you accountable for the Title IX misconduct you're alleged to have committed, the office may close the matter. In that case, the accuser will have a chance to appeal that decision.
If the Title IX office decides to move forward against you, it will draft and serve you with a formal complaint that will describe what you're alleged to have done, and what Title IX misconduct you're alleged to have committed. It may also propose certain sanctions to be imposed on you for the alleged misconduct. You'll be served with the formal complaint and will have a chance to respond to it in writing. Your Title IX attorney can prepare this response, which like the response to the draft investigator report, may point out evidence that the formal complaint failed to consider, any faulty reasoning reflected in the complaint, and other issues with it.
Negotiations
It's a fact that most Title IX misconduct cases don't go to a hearing. Instead, they are resolved through a written agreement between the school and the accused student. Whether or not to take that step is something that your Title IX attorney can help you decide. In many cases, your attorney may be able to negotiate with your school to revise the proposed penalty so that it has the least amount of impact on your studies and on your future.
Hearings
Cases that don't end up in a written settlement will move to the hearing stage. What the hearing process will be like depends heavily on the state of the frequently-changing Title IX rules and regulations at the time your case is ready to be heard. Your attorney will know what to expect and will explain it to you in advance so that you understand what's happening and, if you're going to testify, what questions you can expect to be asked while on the stand.
The standard used to decide Title IX cases is not the “beyond a reasonable doubt” one that applies in criminal case, but a much-lower “more likely than not” standard. This means that the school will be willing to find you responsible if the hearing tribunal is only 51% sure that you committed the misconduct. This is another reason why you need an experienced Title IX attorney to defend you if your case goes to the hearing stage; with such a low burden of proof, you need as strong a defense as possible.
Written Decision
The hearing tribunal will issue a written decision that will explain the reasoning for what their ruling is. If the ruling goes in your favor, your accuser will be able to appeal it. If it goes against you, it will also impose sanctions on you, and you'll be able to appeal.
Appeal
Appeals, however, are made to the same school that ruled against you and so are often not successful. But whether to appeal or not depends on the facts of your particular case and is a decision you and your Title IX attorney can make together.
Lawsuit
Many schools are facing lawsuits from students accused of Title IX misconduct because of the unfair way the schools have been treating accused students. Some of these lawsuits have been successful, with courts admonishing schools for failing to respect the rights of the accused student. Whether to file a lawsuit in your case is also something that depends on your particular set of facts and is something best considered with your Title IX attorney.
The Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team Can Help With Your Title IX Case in the New York Metropolitan Area
If you are facing Title IX misconduct claims from your school in the New York metropolitan area, don't try to defend yourself! The downside of being found responsible for Title IX misconduct is much too great and can include suspension or even expulsion. You've worked very hard to get to where you are, and you deserve a strong and effective defense if someone has accused you of Title IX misconduct.
The Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team is here to help. Our experienced Title IX attorneys regularly defend students all across the country, including in the NYC area, who have been accused of Title IX and other serious types of misconduct. We know the Title IX rules and regulations, the school policies that implement these, and how to defend the rights of our student clients during the investigation and disciplinary process.
Call the Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team today at 888.535.3686 or use our contact form to schedule a confidential consultation to learn more about how we can help. We are here for you – to protect your education and your future!
