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Title VI Discrimination

Unlawful discrimination based on your race, color, and national origin should not be affecting your education. If you are attending a college or university program of any kind or at any level, or have a student enrolled in grade school, and the school receives federal funding, then you or your student have Title VI protections against that race, color, or national origin discrimination. You may also have Title VI protections against language, religious, and other forms of discrimination tied to race, color, or national origin discrimination. Let the Lento Law Firm's Education Law Team help you pursue your rights and claims for relief from Title VI discrimination. Call 888.535.3686 now or tell us about your case.

What Is Title VI?

Title VI is the federal law that prohibits race, color, or national origin discrimination in programs, including public and private schools at all levels, receiving federal financial assistance. Title VI is a part of the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 USC Section 2000d et seq. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 offer students similar protections relating to other forms of unlawful discrimination, in particular sex and religious discrimination. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act offer students similar protections as to disability discrimination. Title VI is the primary federal law you would cite when invoking legal protections against school harassment and discrimination based on race, color, national origin, and characteristics tied to those attributes.

Forms of Unlawful Title VI Discrimination

The forms of unlawful discrimination that Title VI can reach are broader and more subtle than the statute itself clearly expresses. Consider first the core forms of unlawful discrimination that Title VI prohibits and then the broader forms of unlawful discrimination that Title VI can, in some cases, reach.

Race, Color, or National Origin as Title VI Discrimination

Title VI expressly outlaws only race, color, and national origin discrimination: “No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” Other state and federal laws add other categories and characteristics to the list of protected statuses. Other state and federal laws add religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, military or veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, childbearing, genetic profile, and whistleblower status to forms of unlawful discrimination in education, employment, or public services and accommodations. Title VI does not directly reach those other forms of unlawful discrimination. By its express terms, it reaches only race, color, and national origin discrimination. Examples of Title VI race, color, or national origin discrimination could include:

  • a school refuses to admit an applicant because the applicant has a heritage from a country the U.S. currently identifies as a terrorist state;
  • a school refuses to provide educational support services that are provided to other students because the student seeking the services is of a minority race;
  • a school refuses to permit a student to use shower facilities connected to the school's pool and gymnasium because of the student's skin color;
  • a school teacher repeatedly belittles and embarrasses a student based on the student's foreign national heritage, to the point that the student refuses to attend the teacher's class;
  • a professor declines to recommend a student for a graduate program, maintaining that applicants of the student's race do not do well in that program;
  • a school disciplinary official reprimands all students involved in a disciplinary matter except a minority student who engaged in the same alleged misconduct, whom the official suspends and dismisses based on the student's minority race; and
  • a student repeatedly harasses, embarrasses, taunts, and teases a student because of the student's color, different from other students in the same class, to the point of isolating and excluding the student from educational activities.

Language Barriers as Title VI Discrimination

Language is a characteristic closely connected with national origin and, thus, with race and color. Because language can correlate with race, color, and national origin, the Supreme Court long ago ruled in Lau v. Nichols, 414 U.S. 563 (1974), that Title VI requires schools receiving federal financial assistance to provide students with limited English language skills with meaningful opportunities to participate. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that a public school's failure to provide English language instruction to students of Chinese ancestry who lacked English-speaking skills violated Title VI. That ruling does not necessarily mean that every school's refusal to provide language services violates Title VI. The student must still show that the language barrier and discrimination relate in some way to race, color, or national origin. Examples of Title VI language discrimination could thus include:

  • a school receiving federal funds refuses to admit a student who does not speak English;
  • a school receiving federal funds refuses to permit a non-English speaking student to participate in choir classes and co-curricular events;
  • a school receiving federal funds refuses to provide English-second-language support for a student whose limited English-speaking skills are interfering with the student's academic progress;
  • a teacher at a school receiving federal funds mocks and belittles a student who speaks English with a heavy foreign accent typical of the student's foreign national heritage, to the point that other students isolate and exclude the student from school activities; and
  • students at a school receiving federal funds tease, taunt, and ridicule a student for the student's foreign accent, to the point that the student reasonably refuses to participate in school activities.

Physical Characteristics as Title VI Discrimination

Physical appearance and dress can be characteristics closely associated with race, color, and national origin. Individuals of different national origin and ethnic descent may have not just different skin tones but also different facial features, hair color or characteristics, body mass or shape, and traditional garb or dress. The Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights has thus ruled that Title VI reaches and prohibits discrimination based on “how a student looks, including skin color, physical features, or style of dress that reflects both ethnic and religious traditions.” That ruling does not mean that every instance of discrimination based on appearance violates Title VI. The student must connect the discrimination to the student's race, color, or national origin. Examples of unlawful Title VI discrimination based on a student's physical features or dress could include:

  • other students mock and tease a student because the student's parents or other family members wear turbans and robes typical of their foreign national heritage, leaving the student excluded from school activities;
  • other students place swastikas and other Nazi references on a student's locker and backpack because of the student's Jewish ancestry, but teachers and school officials refuse to take any corrective action, leaving the student too upset to study;
  • a teacher at a school receiving federal funds refuses to permit a student wearing a head covering associated with the student's foreign national heritage to participate in a school theater performance; and
  • a school admissions committee declines to admit a student whose massive size, typical of the student's Pacific Islander heritage, doesn't fit the committee's profile for students of that program.

Religion as Title VI Discrimination

Religion is another category or characteristic that can have sufficiently close ties to race, color, and national origin, to make discrimination based on religion a violation of Title VI. The Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights has repeatedly ruled that Title VI prohibits religious discrimination when based on the student's race, color, or national origin. The Office of Civil Rights states that such discrimination can affect Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, and Sikhs, among other religious groups. Yet, not every religious discrimination claim falls under Title VI. The wrongdoer must base the religious discrimination in some way on race, color, or national origin. Examples of potential religious discrimination claims under Title VI include:

  • a professor at a university receiving federal funds mocks and disparages a student of foreign national origin for the student's Sikh religious practices;
  • the members of a college athletics team tease, taunt, and exclude a student-athlete of foreign national origin for practicing Muslim prayers at specific times, including interrupting team practices;
  • grade school students harass, belittle, and assault a student of Eastern national origin for the student's Buddhist religious beliefs, causing the student to suffer academically for poor mental health and missed days and classes;
  • a school admissions committee denies the application of a student of domestic heritage to a foreign studies program in the Middle East because of the student's Christian religious beliefs; and
  • a school administrator refuses to permit an orthodox Jewish student to wear a yarmulke at a graduation ceremony despite the student's willingness to cover it with a graduation cap, resulting in the student's exclusion.

Retaliation as Title VI Discrimination

Title VI also prohibits retaliation for a student's exercise of Title VI rights. Retaliation means to take some action against the student for opposing suspected Title VI discrimination or participating in any manner, whether as a complainant or witness, in a Title VI proceeding. Retaliation claims may accrue even if the student's allegations of a Title VI violation prove to be untrue. A retaliation claim does not depend on proving the alleged wrongdoer's unlawful discriminatory act. Retaliation is an independent claim under Title VI, whether or not anyone has committed a discrimination violation. Retaliation may take many forms. Examples of retaliation could include:

  • grade school students bully and harass a student for complaining to school officials of racial discrimination against the student;
  • a college admissions committee declines to admit an applicant because the applicant had pursued a Title VI discrimination claim against a prior school;
  • a professor docks a student's grade and refuses to permit the student to perform extra credit to improve the grade, unlike other students, after the student gave a statement to investigators supporting another student's claim that the professor had harassed the other student based on race;
  • a school administrator refuses to approve a student's request to serve as a teaching assistant because the student participated as a witness in a hearing on charges that the administrator had ignored Title VI disciplinary procedures.

Forms of Title VI Discrimination

You should be able to tell from the above examples that the forms of Title VI discrimination, like the discriminatory animus or bias, can vary widely. To prove Title VI discrimination, the student must show both the discriminatory bias based on race, color, or national origin, and the discriminatory action. Bias alone does not violate Title VI unless the biased individual takes some action against the student victim, acting out the bias. The Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights finds, for instance, that discriminatory discipline is a common form of discrimination based on race. Minority students may suffer more severe discipline for the same misconduct engaged in by students not of the same minority race. Here are other potential examples of actionable Title VI discrimination when based on race, color, or national origin, or language or religion closely associated with race, color, or national origin:

  • a school receiving federal funds refuses admission to the student;
  • a school receiving federal funds admits the student conditionally or on probation;
  • a school receiving federal funds admits the student but assigns the student to a non-preferred or otherwise disadvantageous track;
  • a school receiving federal funds admits the student but then revokes the admission;
  • a school administrator assigns the student to a lower academic track;
  • a school administrator declines to provide the student with mandated accommodations and resources;
  • a school administrator reprimands, suspends, expels, or otherwise disciplines the student;
  • a teacher or professor reduces the student's grade or fails the student;
  • a teacher or professor refuses to provide the student with assignments, resources, support, or recommendations that the professor provides to other students;
  • a teacher or professor excludes the student from co-curricular activities;
  • students bully, haze, or harass the student;
  • students ostracize and isolate the student;
  • students physically assault or threaten the student;
  • disciplinary officials refuse or reject the student's discrimination complaint;
  • disciplinary officials tell the student to ignore or put up with the discrimination;
  • disciplinary officials admonish, reprimand, or discipline the student differently than similarly situated students who do not share the student's race, color, or national origin.

Elements of a Successful Title VI Claim

A Title VI claim depends on having evidence on each of the elements of such a claim. Anyone believing that Title VI discrimination has occurred may file a Title VI grievance or claim. But only meritorious Title VI claims should receive appropriate relief. To prove a meritorious Title VI claim, the complainant must have evidence supporting each element of the claim. School investigators may discover and present that evidence. But for reasons of their own, they may not pursue an appropriate investigation, instead leaving the complainant to present the evidence. Let us help if you or your student believe Title VI discrimination has harmed you or your student, but school officials fail or refuse to investigate. The Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights identifies these elements of a Title VI discrimination claim:

  • discriminatory or harassing conduct based on race, color, or national origin;
  • the conduct is serious enough to limit or deny the student's ability to participate in or benefit from the educational program, including by creating a hostile environment;
  • a responsible school official knew or should have known of the discriminatory or harassing conduct; and
  • the school failed to promptly end the harassment, eliminate the hostile environment, prevent the harassment from recurring, and remedy its harmful effects.

Title VI Relief and Remedies

Title VI relief and remedies may depend on the forum in which you pursue your Title VI complaint. If you first complain to your school of the Title VI violation, as law and procedure generally require that you do, your school is likely to provide primarily or solely program relief. Your school may reinstate you to the educational program or position, or provide you with access to the educational services, activities, and benefits, of which you maintain race, color, or national origin discrimination deprived you. Your school may suspend and remove an offending student or instructor. Your school may provide remedial training and education to offending instructors, students, or school officials. Your school is unlikely to provide you with compensatory monetary damages unless you retain us to advocate for the same.

If your school does not provide you with appropriate relief from Title VI discrimination, then you may file a regulatory complaint with the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights. The Office of Civil Rights investigates a relatively small percentage of the large number of such complaints. Our attorneys can help you file an accurate, complete, and compelling account of your claim, increasing your prospect for regulatory relief. Regulatory relief generally involves the Office's assurance that your school will henceforth conform its practices to meet Title VI requirements. Your relief may also include your educational reinstatement or other access to services and benefits. Your regulatory relief, unlikely in itself because of the large number of regulatory complaints, is even less likely to include monetary damages.

If, on the other hand, you retain our attorneys to pursue a civil court action on your behalf for your school's Title VI violations, we may be able to gain you the above injunctive relief and appropriate compensatory money damages. Compensatory damages may include your out-of-pocket losses like lost tuition and fees, medical or counseling expenses you incurred, and lost wages and earning capacity. You may also be able to recover your embarrassment, fear, fright, shock, and mental and emotional distress connected with intentional discriminatory conduct. Punitive damages to punish the defendant are not generally available for Title VI claims, even where the violation was intentional.

Making a Title VI Claim

To gain the above relief, you must make a Title VI claim that satisfies the requirements of federal law, rule, regulation, and procedure. Those requirements are complex. Students generally need the services not simply of a local criminal defense or civil litigation lawyer but of a lawyer with substantial skill and experience in academic administrative law and procedure. Our attorneys have that substantial skill and experience. So your first action should be to retain us to review and evaluate your Title VI rights and claims, and to advise and represent you accordingly. Don't go it alone or proceed with unqualified counsel when making a Title VI claim. Title VI claims generally require skills and experience well beyond the skills and experience of most attorneys.

Exhausting School Administrative Procedures

As the above section on remedies suggests, making a Title VI claim usually begins with your administrative complaint within your school's own procedures. Federal Title VI law and procedural rules may encourage you to exhaust your school remedies. In other words, you may be better off pursuing your school procedures, even if you believe that your school is unlikely to provide you with voluntary relief. The Supreme Court held in Fitzgerald v. Barnstable School Comm., 555 U.S. 246, 255 (2009) that Title VI civil lawsuits do not require that you first exhaust administrative procedures. But you may find that you can obtain all or most of the relief you need without going to the trouble, delay, and expense of a federal lawsuit.

School Title VI Proceedings

Your school or your student's school is very likely to have a policy and procedure providing you with an avenue for relief from unlawful Title VI discrimination and other unlawful discrimination. The New York City Public Schools are an example, prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, national origin, and several other categories and characteristics “in accordance with Title VI and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, Section 503 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973,” and other federal law. The details of the New York City Public Schools Title VI anti-discrimination policy include reporting, investigation, and hearing procedures. Depending on the nature of your Title VI claim and the school district in which you pursue it, you may find a receptive audience among school officials for your case for relief. Let our attorneys help you make that school administrative procedures case.

Making a Regulatory Complaint

You and your student may also have the option of pursuing a regulatory complaint. An administrative complaint is within your school or your student's school. A regulatory complaint goes outside the school to the federal Office of Civil Rights, which receives and investigates Title VI complaints. A regulatory complaint brings to bear on your case or your student's case the full resources, reputation, and special skills of the Office of Civil Rights. However, as indicated above, the OCR receives thousands of complaints annually, on which it can investigate and act only on a small percentage of cases. Your likelihood of getting OCR help isn't a random matter. Rather, the OCR tends to select cases where the impact is broad rather than individual. For instance, if many schools are violating Title VI in a new or different way, and your case represents those new cases, then you may get OCR help. But don't be discouraged if you do not. Instead, retain our attorneys to pursue your Title VI claim in the best forum available to you.

Filing a Civil Lawsuit

Title VI does not expressly state that a student suffering Title VI violations has a private right of action against the student's school. Congress and the state legislatures enact many laws, including laws protecting private individuals against public agency action, for which the laws provide no private remedy. But in the case of Title VI, the Supreme Court in Barnes v. Gorman, 536 U.S. 181, 185 (2002), held that Title VI implies such a private right of action. You may, in other words, sue your school under Title VI despite the fact that Title VI doesn't directly say so. Suing a school in federal district court requires substantial skill and experience. Our attorneys have that skill and experience. Do not attempt to pursue a Title VI lawsuit in federal court on your own or with unqualified local counsel.

Who Are the Appropriate Defendants?

You must generally sue your school or its managing officials in their official capacity. You may not generally sue individual school officials in their individual (unofficial, personal) capacity. School officials are generally immune except as to their official capacity, meaning that they are responding on the school's behalf with the school's defense and indemnification. When suing officials in their official capacity, you are, in effect, suing the school.

How Our Title VI Attorneys Help

When you retain our Education Law Team for your Title VI claim, we can help relieve you of the substantial burden of learning and following the complex laws and procedures. Our skilled and experienced attorneys know how to pursue your claim to its best outcome.

Investigation and Filing of Your Title VI Claim

Whether you decide to pursue your Title VI claim through your school, through the federal Office of Civil Rights, or through civil court litigation, your Title VI claim will require investigation, identifying and acquiring admissible evidence, and presenting that evidence in a sound, detailed, and comprehensive complaint. Our attorneys can not only help you identify, acquire, organize, and summarize your evidence. We can also research and cite the supporting law in an administrative, regulatory, or court complaint meeting the forum's precise requirements. Each of those forums follows different procedural rules, requiring a different presentation. Leave the investigation and filing of your case to us for your best outcome.

Early Voluntary Resolution of Your Title VI Claim

Your best way to achieve your dispute resolution goals may be through an early, negotiated, voluntary resolution of your claim. Whether you authorize us to file your case with the school, with the OCR, or in federal court, our filing of your case typically gives us a substantial opportunity to communicate and negotiate on your behalf with school officials and their attorneys. The filing of your Title VI case may be the action that gets your matter in front of officials who have the authority, information, and interest to settle your case. Our attorneys can help you conduct those early voluntary negotiations to determine if you can achieve all your significant litigation goals without further proceedings.

Prehearing or Pretrial Procedures for Your Title VI Claim

Your Title VI claim may then proceed through prehearing or pretrial procedures, if it does not resolve by early voluntary negotiation. Those procedures may include making and responding to discovery requests, and filing and responding to pretrial motions for summary judgment. Our attorneys can represent you through those procedures so that your case reaches a hearing in the best stance for the best outcome.

Formal Contested Hearing of Your Title VI Claim

Your Title VI case may require a formal hearing in whichever forum you authorize us to pursue. We can help you present witnesses and exhibits, cross-examine opposing witnesses, and make opening statements and closing arguments for your best hearing outcome.

Alternative Special Relief Through Oversight Channels

We may also be able to help you obtain alternative special relief if your case does not proceed to a hearing or if you fail to prevail at that hearing. We may be able to reach and negotiate with your school's general counsel office or outside retained counsel for appropriate Title VI relief.

Premier Title VI Attorneys Available Nationwide

Retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Education Law Team if you have suffered harm from race, color, or national origin discrimination at your school. Our skilled and experienced attorneys are available nationwide, no matter the location or level of your school program. We have helped hundreds of students nationwide gain appropriate school relief in cases and claims of all kinds. Call 888.535.3686 now or reach out to us online.

Contact Us Today!

If you, or your student, are facing any kind of disciplinary action, or other negative academic sanction, and are having feelings of uncertainty and anxiety for what the future may hold, contact the Lento Law Firm today, and let us help secure your academic career.

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