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
On February 20, 2024, the United States Supreme Court denied a petition for a writ of certiorari in Coalition for TJ v. Fairfax County School Board. Coalition for TJ involves an admissions policy at a prestigious public...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
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently held that harassment based on perceived sexual orientation constitutes sex discrimination under Title IX, extending the holding from the U.S. Supreme Court's Title VII...more
On April 6, 2023, the United States Department of Education (“ED”) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (the “NPRM”) related to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (“Title IX”). The NPRM, entitled...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
On April 28, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Cummings v Premier Rehab Keller, P.L.L.C. that emotional distress damages are not recoverable in a private action to enforce several civil rights statutes. While Cummings...more
On Monday, May 9, 2022, the NCAA Division I Council Working Group on Name, Image and Likeness released new guidance regarding third-party involvement in NIL activities. The guidance comes as we approach the one-year...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
Guidance outlines K-12 and Postsecondary Schools’ Response - On October 13, 2021, in connection with World Mental Health Day (October 10), the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) and the U.S....more
On October 6, 2021, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health (DPH) announced a series of extensions designed to allow healthcare employers and institutions of higher education to comply with the City’s vaccine mandate....more
On August 10, 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice (the “Department”) announced that it entered into a settlement agreement with Brown University to ensure that students with mental health disabilities have equal access to...more
On August 13, 2021, Philadelphia’s Department of Public Health (“DPH”) announced an emergency regulation mandating COVID-19 vaccines that will affect healthcare institutions and the City’s colleges and universities. Many of...more
On July 20, 2021, the U.S. Department of Education’s (the “Department”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) issued its Questions and Answers on the Title IX Regulations on Sexual Harassment (“Q&A”), which clarifies OCR’s...more
On June 16, 2021, the U.S. Department of Education’s (the “Department”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) issued a Notice of Interpretation explaining that it will enforce Title IX's prohibition of discrimination on the basis...more
The Department of Justice recently filed a Statement of Interest in Thomas v. Bd. of Regents of the University of Nebraska, a case pending in the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska asserting peer...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
On April 6, 2021, the U.S. Department of Education’s (the “Department”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) provided a roadmap for carrying out President Biden’s recent Executive Order on Guaranteeing an Educational Environment...more
Whether and how Title IX applies to academic medical centers has historically been a difficult issue to get solid guidance on. While the preamble to the recent Title IX Sexual Harassment regulations touched lightly on the...more
On September 25, 2020, the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) published a document entitled, “Effective Practices for Preventing Sexual Harassment.” ...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