Every four years, post-election, many Americans come together to agree that the Electoral College is antiquated and dysfunctional. The losing side moans and groans and demands change, and then forgets about it for the next...more
6/11/2026
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Colleges ,
Disciplinary Proceedings ,
Due Process ,
Educational Institutions ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Assault ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Students ,
Title IX ,
Title IX Coordinator ,
Universities
We recently received a question on ATIXA’s Listserv about how to assess severity in a specific Title IX complaint. Below, I’ve shared the example along with a detailed explanation for the benefit of the broader Title IX...more
We see a fair number of reports where one student or employee uses a sexualized label to describe another, sometimes in the heat of conflict, sometimes as gossip, and sometimes to create deliberate exclusion. These labels...more
11/21/2025
/ Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Colleges ,
Due Process ,
Educational Institutions ,
False Accusations ,
False Statements ,
Grievance Process ,
Harassment ,
Hostile Environment ,
Investigations ,
School Policies ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Students ,
Title IX ,
Title IX Coordinator ,
Universities
This Tip of the Week was originally published under the title “ATIXA’s Brief Guide to Best Practices for Addressing Fondling Allegations Under Title IX.” However, that was before the shift in the federal fondling definition...more
9/10/2025
/ Colleges ,
Compliance ,
Department of Education ,
Educational Institutions ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Public Schools ,
School Districts ,
School Safety ,
Sexual Assault ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Sexual Violence Policies ,
Title IX
Law Professor Ramsi Woodcock was suspended from teaching at the University of Kentucky (UK) and barred from campus for posting a “Petition for Military Action Against Israel” on a website he manages. Eli Capilouto, president...more
9/2/2025
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Department of Education ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Funding ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Investigations ,
Title VI ,
Trump Administration ,
Universities
Like many firms with a leadership think tank, our consultants collaborate to inform how we advise our clients and ATIXA’s members. Recently, we discussed the Trump Administration’s Executive Order (EO) that limits its...more
5/13/2025
/ Colleges ,
Educational Institutions ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Executive Orders ,
Gender Identity ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Students ,
Title IX ,
Trump Administration ,
Universities
Fifteen years ago, I received what seemed like an odd request: would I be willing to serve as an expert witness in federal Title IX litigation? My perception had always been that most Title IX litigation focused on questions...more
5/7/2025
/ Colleges ,
Educational Institutions ,
Expert Testimony ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Negligence ,
Sexual Assault ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Students ,
Summary Judgment ,
Title IX ,
Universities
The 2020 Title IX Regulations raise the issue of predatory grooming, but only to state that it may be covered by the definition of Sexual Harassment in § 106.30 of the regulations. Thus, to the Department of Education’s...more
ATIXA created the One Policy, Two Procedures (1P2P) Model Policy and Procedures to innovate a more comprehensive approach for Title IX and civil rights compliance for schools and colleges. ATIXA regularly updates its models...more
3/12/2025
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Discrimination ,
Educational Institutions ,
School Safety ,
Sexual Assault ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Students ,
Title IX ,
Title VI ,
Universities
If you are a Title IX administrator, investigator, or decision-maker, you’ve no doubt found the federal regulatory definition of the Fondling offense to be vexatious, to say the least. It’s an attempt by the Department of...more
An ATIXA Tip of the Week -
Today, a federal district court in Kentucky issued a ruling in Tennessee vs. Cardona, one of the several lawsuits against the 2024 Title IX Regulations. This particular lawsuit was filed in the...more
As we noted in October, “Over the past few years, there has been a significant amount of noise, confusion, and sense of whiplash in the Title IX world.” With the presidential election behind us and the courts intervening...more
1/6/2025
/ Colleges ,
Educational Institutions ,
Pregnancy ,
Risk Assessment ,
School Districts ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Sexual Violence Policies ,
Students ,
Title IX ,
Universities
Consequent to increasing sectarian tensions on campus, ATIXA members tell us they are seeing a rise in anonymous racist, homophobic, transphobic, Islamophobic, pro/anti-Israel messages, and other discriminatory comments...more
Professionalism, Proficiency, and Confidence -
In the Title IX field, federal regulations tend to drive the training discussion. They should not. In conversations on the ATIXA member listserv, we frequently encounter...more
On the morning of August 1, 2024, Title IX experts from TNG Consulting and ATIXA participated in a webinar hosted by the Department of Education (ED) regarding the 2024 Title IX Rule. During the session, U.S. Secretary of...more
8/2/2024
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Colleges ,
Department of Education ,
Discrimination ,
Educational Institutions ,
LGBTQ ,
New Regulations ,
OCR ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Students ,
Title IX ,
Universities
Last week and early this week, two federal judges granted injunctions to halt enforcement of the 2024 Title IX Final Rule (“2024 Regs”), in its entirety. An injunction is a court order requiring an individual or entity to...more
6/21/2024
/ Colleges ,
Compliance ,
Department of Education ,
Discrimination ,
Educational Institutions ,
Gender Identity ,
Injunctions ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Orientation ,
Title IX ,
Universities
Oh no, not another blog about the Title IX Regulations! I know, how many summaries of the same thing can you read? But here’s the thing: ATIXA’s compliance series is not another summary. It is designed to highlight topics you...more
The White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) completed its review of the 2024 Title IX Final Rule (Rule) last week. OCR quickly finalized it and released it to the public on April 19, 2024, with an...more
The world is blessed and cursed by nuance. Most issues are complicated, and truly understanding them requires expertise, depth of insight, familiarity, and an appreciation for how nuances impact the issue and its context....more
A client recently asked The FAIR Center to staff a hearing panel on a complex set of allegations against a tenured faculty member. I chaired the panel along with two of the client’s panelists from their own internal pool, so...more
3/19/2024
/ Client Services ,
Complaint Procedures ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Educational Institutions ,
Internal Investigations ,
Race Discrimination ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Student Employees ,
Students ,
Title IX ,
Title VII
The “single investigator model” describes a practice by which a single individual investigates allegations of misconduct and the same person also makes the final determination of whether policy was violated. This model became...more
More and more schools are publishing Title IX annual reports (a great idea!), and as I was looking at a bunch of them recently, I saw an outlier that prompted this Tip of the Week....more
If you’re a Latin pedant, you’ll want to use the traditional ‘see-nay de-ay,’ but the common American English pronunciation used in legislative machinations is ‘sigh-neh dye.’ Perhaps it ought to be “sign or die” to be more...more
[Revised and updated from my previous blog post in August].
As you know, the Department of Education is empowered to craft regulations to fulfill Congress’ mandate for sex equity under Title IX. The Department (ED),...more
12/12/2023
/ Department of Education ,
Disciplinary Proceedings ,
Educational Institutions ,
Gender-Based Violence ,
OCR ,
OIRA ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Sexual Assault ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Sexual Violence Policies ,
Students ,
Title IX
If you’re like most of us in the Title IX field, the deeply technocratic nuances of federal regulation bore you to tears. I share your ennui. Please consider this your least complicated primer on how and when we may get the...more
8/30/2023
/ Department of Education ,
Educational Institutions ,
Gender-Based Violence ,
OCR ,
OIRA ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Sexual Assault ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Sexual Violence Policies ,
Students ,
Title IX