Traditionally, the wheels of academia have moved slowly. “Glacially” might be a better adverb. The pace has sped up dramatically in recent years, though, as colleges and universities have been forced by circumstances to change with the times. It started with the advent of computers and the internet, but plenty of other events have helped it accelerate. Classrooms look distinctly different today than they did just a couple of years ago, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This shift has even trickled down to faculty and staff turnover. Academia has forever been associated with musty classrooms and offices inhabited by even mustier professors. Yet, a recent report from TransAmerica found that turnover in education since the start of the pandemic has risen to 35%.

That turnover has apparently been hitting college Title IX offices particularly hard. An article from September in the Macalester College student newspaper, the Mac Weekly, suggests why. The story details the resignation of Macalester's Title IX coordinator, Regina Curran. Curran herself lays most of the blame on the pandemic, but as the story goes on to note, Curran is the fourth person to have held the coordinator position since April 2019.

In fact, as the writer hints, Curran's tenure has seen the federal government completely overall Title IX guidelines. First, Trump re-wrote the rules. Since Biden has stepped in, he has made undoing what Trump did a priority. No one really knows at this point where things will eventually wind up. Indeed, the situation is so chaotic, no one really knows what's happening with Title IX right now, today.

If you're a student who's facing a sexual misconduct charge, all this news is particularly worrisome. The problem is, when the old-time pace of academia meets this new, faster pace of turnover, documents, evidence, people can get lost in the shuffle. New investigators arrive. Witnesses take other jobs or accept early retirement. In a revolving door of Title IX coordinators, cases lose all sense of continuity.

Now more than ever, then, it's vital to have proper legal representation. A Title IX attorney can make sure school faculty and administrator stick to their promises and protect your rights. They can pressure your school to follow federal guidelines and maintain appropriate timelines. If nothing else, they can serve as a repository of information, holding on to documents, so none of those documents get conveniently “misplaced.”

Attorney Joseph D. Lento built his career on Title IX student defense. He's represented hundreds of clients across the United States from all manner of college sexual misconduct charges. He knows the law, and he knows how colleges and universities operate. It doesn't matter what may be happening on campus; he won't let your case fall through the cracks. He'll make sure you get the very best possible resolution to your case.

If you or your child is caught up in a campus misconduct case, don't wait. Contact the Lento Law Firm today at 888-555-3686 or use our automated online form.