Title IX law is in constant flux, with new rules and legal challenges continuing to shape how schools, colleges, and other institutions handle sex-based misconduct and discrimination. Our firm closely monitors these developments and is committed to providing the most current information available. Click here to learn about the current state of Title IX and how we can help if you are facing accusations or other Title IX issues.
As a student attending one of the colleges or universities located in the heart of Indiana – the Indianapolis metropolitan area – you know better than anybody how hard you’re working to achieve your educational goals. Those goals are the key to your future, and if you’re suddenly faced with a Title IX misconduct allegation, the path toward that future suddenly becomes much more challenging.
That is why you need the help of one of the experienced Title IX attorneys from the LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team if someone has accused you of Title IX misconduct. Schools take Title IX misconduct claims very seriously, and you could be facing discipline that could include suspension or even expulsion. Working with a Title IX attorney gives you the best chance to protect your education and your future. Call the LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team today at 888.535.3686 or use our contact form to schedule a confidential consultation about your case with one of our experienced attorneys.
What is Title IX?
Title IX is a shorthand name used for a federal law and related rules and regulations that were originally designed to ensure that women were treated equally when it came to college admissions and educational opportunities. Since it was enacted in 1972, the scope of Title IX has expanded considerably. It now broadly protects against a number of types of discrimination and harassment based on sex, sexual orientation, sexual identification, and pregnancy and parenting status.
Colleges and universities are required to make sure that their students aren’t subjected to illegal discrimination on campus. This means that schools must not discriminate against or harass students based on any of Title IX’s protected classes. But it also means that schools must not allow their students or employees to harass other students or employees based on those protected areas.
As a result, all schools that accept federal funding are going to enforce Title IX on campus because if they fail to do so, they could face fines from the federal government or, in the worst case, loss of their federal funding. This is where things can get very difficult for a student who has been accused of Title IX misconduct. Schools can be so eager to prove to the federal government that they are vigorously enforcing Title IX on campus that they disregard the rights of the accused student in the process.
This is why you want to have an experienced Title IX attorney on your side if you’ve been accused of Title IX misconduct. You need someone who knows what your rights are, can tell when your school is ignoring them, and will fight for you from day one. At the LLF National Law Firm, our Student Defense Team is ready to stand up for your rights and defend you if you’ve been accused of Title IX misconduct.
Protecting Yourself in Title IX Cases
Schools located in and around Indianapolis, such as Butler University, the University of Indianapolis, Marian University of Indianapolis, Franklin College, Indiana University Indianapolis, and Ivy Tech Community College, among others, are going to take Title IX misconduct allegations very seriously. They will move quickly to investigate students accused of Title IX misconduct and to discipline those found to have violated Title IX. You need experienced representation through both the investigation and the disciplinary stages if you’ve been accused of Title IX misconduct.
By working with an experienced Title IX attorney from the start of your Title IX case, you’ll know that someone who understands these kinds of cases is there fighting for your rights from the very beginning. At the LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team, we know what you can expect if you’ve been accused of Title IX, and we will be there to guide you through every step of the process.
Your experienced Title IX attorney will explain to you what’s happening at each stage of the process. You’ll be prepared for what’s happening next with your case and can avoid having to worry about whether you’ve missed a deadline or are saying or doing something that will lead to more problems with you and your school. They’ll be there to prepare you for what comes next, whether it’s an interview with your school’s Title IX investigator, a negotiation to resolve your Title IX case, or your Title IX case hearing.
Trying to defend yourself when so much is at stake can be a huge mistake. On top of that, defending yourself during a Title IX investigation and disciplinary proceeding can be so distracting that you may find it hard to focus on your education. Working with the LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team means you can rely on your attorney to defend you, communicate with your school on your behalf, and do everything they can to help you protect your education and your future.
Stages of a Title IX Case
The Title IX Misconduct Report
Schools make it extremely easy for students as well as school employees to file Title IX misconduct complaints with the school’s Title IX office. Many Title IX misconduct reports accuse a student of some type of sexual misconduct. In some cases, they may accuse the student of relationship violence. In some cases, a student may be accused of discriminating against or harassing another student based on their sex, sexual orientation, or one of the other Title IX protected classes.
Schools make it easy to file a Title IX misconduct report for a reason. They want to be able to show the federal government that they take their Title IX enforcement obligations seriously, and having an easy-to-use misconduct reporting system is one easy step schools can take to demonstrate their eagerness to enforce Title IX on campus.
Butler University’s Office of Institutional Equity, for example, has an “Incident Report Form” clickable button at the top of the office’s webpage. The University of Indianapolis has a detailed webpage that describes the school’s “Title IX and Sexual Misconduct Policies” which include a similar clickable button that leads to a Title IX misconduct report form. Ivy Tech Community College maintains a Sexual Violence Prevention page on its website that advises students about how to report an incident and gives them a button they can click if they want to file a report online.
In short, all schools have at least one and typically more than one way for a student to file a Title IX misconduct report. This is the report that will trigger the next steps in a Title IX case.
The Title IX Investigation
When a Title IX misconduct report is received, the school’s Title IX coordinator will review the allegations and, where they appear to allege a violation of Title IX, will assign an investigator to look into them. The investigation may take weeks or months. If you’re the focus of a Title IX investigation, you and your accuser will both receive a written notice about the investigation, and you’ll have a chance to respond to it in writing.
This is when you want to have a Title IX attorney on board, working on your behalf to protect your rights. The Title IX investigator will almost always want to interview you, and your attorney will prepare you for what may be a very uncomfortable experience. In addition, your attorney can be with you during that interview to make sure the questions you’re asked are clear, fair, and understandable.
In addition to your interview, the Title IX investigator will most likely interview your accuser. If there are any witnesses to the alleged incident, the investigator may interview them as well. In addition, the investigator may look for photos, videos, security camera footage, text messages, emails, social media posts, and other evidence that may relate to the allegations.
Schools will often employ what they call “interim measures” during the investigation. The focus of these tends to be on making sure the accuser feels safe on campus; but in fact, what often happens is that the accused student bears the brunt of the measures and is made to feel as though they have already been found to have committed the alleged misconduct.
Some of these interim measures may include:
- Forcing the accused student to change their class schedule so that they are not attending the same class at the same time as their accuser; in some cases, they may have to move to online learning if that’s available
- Requiring the accused student to vacate their dorm room, either to move to another dorm separate from the dorm they formerly shared with their accuser or to move off campus entirely
- If both the accuser and the accused students work together at a campus job, the accused student may have to change their work schedule or their work site or, in some cases, leave their job so that they and their accuser are not working together
- Sometimes, schools will require the accused student to take a “voluntary” leave of absence until the entire disciplinary process is complete
It’s easy to see how your school’s interim measures can significantly disrupt or even interrupt your educational experience. Your Title IX attorney can fight back against some of these extreme interim measures, using their experience to suggest things that can be done to help your accuser feel safer on campus while still preserving your educational and social experiences during the investigation and disciplinary process.
Your Title IX attorney may go on the initiative, where appropriate, by conducting their own investigation of the allegations made against you. Sometimes, the school’s Title IX investigator is only looking for evidence that can be used to prove you committed the misconduct and may ignore or not look for evidence that tends to show you didn’t. Your Title IX attorney in those cases may look for the evidence that the Title IX investigator left behind or didn’t even look for.
When the Title IX investigator has finished, they will prepare a written report of their findings. You and your accuser will normally both be able to review a draft of this and comment on it to the investigator. This is an excellent chance for your Title IX attorney to point out the evidence that the Title IX investigator failed to consider or never looked for and to point out the flaws in the report. The investigator may or may not revise the report after receiving these comments, but either way, they will eventually submit it in final form to the school’s Title IX office.
The Formal Complaint
If the Title IX investigator’s report is in your favor and the school decides not to pursue discipline against you, your case will be over – except that your accuser will be able to appeal the Title IX office’s decision not to file a formal complaint against you.
If the Title IX investigator’s report says that you committed Title IX misconduct, your school’s Title IX office will likely prepare and serve you with a formal complaint. This complaint will detail the claims being made against you, the facts that support them, and the Title IX misconduct you’re being charged with. It may also propose sanctions against you.
You’ll have a chance to respond in writing to this – again, if you’re working with a Title IX attorney, this response is more likely to be effective than if you attempt to do it yourself or have retained an attorney with little or no Title IX defense experience.
The Negotiations
Your Title IX case, if it has proceeded this far, is likely to settle instead of heading to the hearing stage. Most Title IX cases are settled. However, how they settle can depend heavily on negotiations between your attorney and the school. An experienced Title IX attorney can point out flaws in the school’s position; provide the school with any evidence helpful to your case that the school’s investigator failed to uncover or disregarded; and argue for an outcome that protects your ability to get the education you were seeking when you enrolled.
The Hearing
Title IX cases that don’t settle will normally move to a hearing. How the hearing is structured depends on the Title IX rules and regulations that are then in effect and how your school has chosen to implement them. What’s important is to be working with a Title IX attorney who has the experience to be able to effectively defend you in any number of different types of hearing settings. Because the LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team protects students all across the country who have been accused of Title IX and other serious misconduct by their schools, our attorneys have had experience with a wide range of hearing procedures. We’ll make sure you know what to expect at your hearing, will fight for your rights, and will vigorously defend you if your case does move to the hearing stage.
Note that in a Title IX case, the hearing tribunal does not have to find you responsible for Title IX misconduct “beyond a reasonable doubt.” They only need to believe that it was “more likely than not” that you were responsible for the alleged misconduct. That’s a much lower level of proof, one that highlights the need for you to have an experienced Title IX attorney in your corner.
The Decision
The Title IX tribunal’s decision will be in writing. If it is in your favor, your accuser will have a chance to appeal. If it goes against you, it will typically also declare the sanctions that are being applied in your case, and you will then have a right to appeal. In most cases, even if you appeal the decision, the sanctions against you will go into effect immediately.
The Appeal
Appeals of Title IX rulings can be difficult to win – the grounds for appeal are limited, and you are appealing to the same school that just ruled against you. But some appeals may be warranted. Your Title IX attorney can help you decide whether an appeal of an unfavorable Title IX ruling may make sense in your case.
Lawsuits
Many schools have been named in lawsuits filed by students accused of Title IX and other types of misconduct and who claim their schools ignored their rights in the disciplinary process. The LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team can help you decide whether a lawsuit against your school may make sense in your case. Our attorneys are ready to take meritorious claims to court and hold schools responsible where they have trampled on a student’s rights.
The LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team Can Help With Your Title IX Case in the Indianapolis Metropolitan Area
You’ve worked hard to get into the school of your choice, and as a college student, you are working hard to learn what you need to know in order to provide for your future. If someone is accusing you of Title IX misconduct, you need a strong defense by an attorney who has experience defending other students in other Title IX cases. The LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team does just what its name suggests – we defend students. We’ve done so in schools all across the country, both in Title IX cases and in cases involving other types of serious allegations of misconduct.
Call us today at 888.535.3686, or use our contact form to schedule a confidential consultation if you’ve been accused of Title IX misconduct. At the LLF National Law Firm, our Student Defense Team is ready to help you protect your education and your future!