INTRODUCTION - On February 14, 2025, the Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (the “Assistant Secretary”) at the United States Department of Education (the “Department”) circulated a Dear Colleague Letter (the “DCL”)...more
2/24/2025
/ Affirmative Action ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Colleges ,
Dear Colleague Letter ,
Department of Education ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Educational Institutions ,
Equal Protection ,
SCOTUS ,
Students ,
Title VI ,
Universities
President Biden has signed the Stop Campus Hazing Act (the “Act”) into law. The Act, the first federal anti-hazing law, is the result of a bi-partisan effort and comes after several years of patchwork efforts to address...more
On November 7, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit found, in the case of Joseph v. Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, that Title IX does not provide an implied right of action...more
With the recent emergence of Name Image Likeness ("NIL") compensation, alumni associations focused on raising funds to compensate student athletes have been on the rise. But alumni associations in some form or another have...more
In an effort to combat discrimination and harassment based on caste, numerous colleges and universities have amended their nondiscrimination policies to explicitly prohibit misconduct based on caste. Institutions of higher...more
On January 26, 2023, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) published a letter and resolution agreement regarding a December 2020 complaint (OCR Complaint # 04-21-2060) filed against Troy...more
The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) published, on March 18, 2022, new “Guidance on Web Accessibility and the ADA” (the “Guidance”). For colleges and universities, the Guidance offers some help as to how to best satisfy their...more
Background - On December 13, 2016, the 21st Century Cures Act (the “Cures Act”) was signed into law and made changes to the Public Health Service Act related to health information technology. The Office of the National...more
Earlier this month, Princeton’s President sent a letter to the Princeton community to outline the University’s next steps to “address systemic racism at Princeton and beyond.” President Eisgruber showed his support for...more
On September 9, 2020, after receiving more than 17,000 public comments to its notice of proposed rulemaking (the “NPRM”), the United States Department of Education (the “Department”) published the Religious Liberty and Free...more
Late last week, with no apparent public discussion, the Department of Education (the “Department”) withdrew a number of Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) guidance documents relating to Title IX in the wake of the new Title IX...more
Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s Higher Education Practice continues to monitor the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the higher education industry. The below summarizes some recent issues being contended with unionized...more
On June 28, 2019, Governor Wolf signed into law Act 16 of 2019, which requires institutions of higher education in Pennsylvania to meet two new categories of requirements related to sexual misconduct in their programs and...more
On January 16, 2020, the Department of Education (the “Department”) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (“NPRM”) with the stated aim of implementing at colleges and universities certain Trump administration initiatives...more
Esports -
Electronic sports (esports), also known as competitive video and computer gaming, continues to boom in popularity. Esports is a spectator-driven phenomenon: some reports estimate the global esports audience will...more
6/26/2019
/ Colleges ,
Department of Education ,
Educational Institutions ,
eSports ,
Executive Orders ,
Free Speech ,
Hazing ,
NCAA ,
Students ,
Title IX ,
Universities
The United States Department of Education released its new proposed Title IX regulations addressing sexual harassment (including sexual assault) today. ...more
In recent months, challenges to schools’ programs and policies designed to foster diversity have become increasingly common. Anti-affirmative action advocates have stepped up their attacks on race- and gender-conscious...more
Professor Deprived of Due Process Through
Salary Reduction -
Due process with respect to an employee’s property interest in employment is a vitally important consideration at public institutions, and, as a recent case...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has affirmed a district court decision holding that the federal trial court must abstain from judicial review of an ongoing disciplinary proceeding against a student at...more
As higher education institutions struggle to implement the Department of Education’s ever-expanding rules governing sexual violence on campus, many student respondents involved in disciplinary proceedings are returning fire...more
Risk managers who also happen to be attorneys are not always protected by the attorney-client privilege, according to a recent decision by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. In Casey v. Unitek...more
On October 16, 2013, the Pennsylvania Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 31 which, if approved by the House of Representatives and signed by Governor Corbett, would substantially expand colleges’ and universities’ child...more