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
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
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 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 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
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
On Monday, July 22, 2019, the Federal Student Aid Office of the U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced that the Distance Education Rules that were originally scheduled to go into effect on July 1, 2018, and were then...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 Connecticut Supreme Court recently determined as a matter of law that independent schools have a duty of care to warn students against the risks of insect-borne illnesses when organizing study abroad trips. Failure to...more
While investigating sexual misconduct at the University of Montana’s campus, bestselling author Jon Krakauer filed a request with the office of the Commissioner of Higher Education of the State of Montana to inspect specific...more
On August 1, 2016, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed the Madison Holleran Suicide Prevention Act, which requires institutions of higher education to ensure that mental health counselors are available to students 24 hours...more