On May 1, 2023, the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) released its annual report for Fiscal Year 2022. The FY 2022 report focused on civil rights complaints, proactive compliance reviews, technical assistance presentations, and...more
Please join the Ohio Five, in conjunction with Kenyon College and Bricker & Eckler, for a drive-in Clery and Title IX training. Participants will have the opportunity to obtain their annual Clery Act training requirements,...more
[Warning: This article does not reference viruses, vaccines, or mask-wearing.] The education world is in a state of flux, legally speaking. Any day now, the U.S. Supreme Court will further opine on the extent to which the...more
On May 6, 2020, the United States Department of Education issued its long-awaited Final Regulations (the “Regulations”) that focus on Title IX protections for victims of sexual misconduct. The new regulations impose a number...more
After a lengthy notice and comment process and much anticipation, new Title IX regulations were issued by the U.S. Department of Education on May 6, 2020. The regulations comprise approximately 25 pages, and the preamble to...more
While COVID-19 has forced the closure of schools across the country, the United States Department of Education (“ED”) has issued much-anticipated rule that will impose significant new obligations for schools - in particular,...more
When the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion several weeks ago upholding a public school district’s policy allowing transgender students to use facilities that match their gender identity, it was just the latest...more
For the first time in 40 years, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) will make significant regulatory changes to Title IX, the federal law regulating sex and gender discrimination in the educational environment. These new...more
Over eight years after the United States Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights’ [“OCR”] issued its April 4, 2011 “Dear Colleague” letter on campus sexual assaults, the torrent of lawsuits continues, filed...more
With the number of students who identify as gender non-conforming on the rise, many educators have questions regarding the supports and services that may be available to such students. This year at IAASE, Jennifer Smith and...more
• California Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed the state legislature’s attempt to codify previously issued Title IX guidance. • A similar bill, introduced this month in the U.S. House of Representatives, has not yet received the...more
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) and its corresponding regulations prohibit sex discrimination in education programs or activities conducted by educational institutions that receive federal financial...more
• The U.S. Department of Education rescinded two major Office for Civil Rights guidance documents interpreting the application of Title IX to reports of sexual misconduct. • Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos stated that...more
On September 22, the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights issued a Dear Colleague Letter withdrawing the statements of policy and guidance reflected in two key documents about Title IX and sexual violence...more
On September 22, 2017, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a "Dear Colleague Letter" that withdrew two key Title IX documents issued during the Obama administration—a Dear Colleague Letter...more
Late last week, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced the intention of the Department of Education to overhaul the way it addressed sexual misconduct on college and university campuses, as well as in K-12 schools. As...more
• A federal court in Ohio has held that published writings of a university Title IX administrator provide sufficient evidence of bias to permit a civil suit by a penalized student to go forward. • Denial of equitable...more
In yet another reversal of civil rights policy established under the Obama administration, on Sept. 7, 2017, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced her plan to review and replace the Department of Education’s 2011 “Dear...more
It is unusual for a dissenting opinion to be more noteworthy than the majority’s holding, yet that is the case in Plummer v. University of Houston, a decision recently handed down by the United States Court of Appeals for the...more
We are closely monitoring the U.S. Department of Education’s policy guidance concerning investigations of sexual assaults and sexual violence on school campuses, applicable to both K-12 and higher education institutions...more
Published reports indicate that President Trump’s proposed budget includes what is approximately a fifty percent reduction in the prior fiscal year’s funding for the United States Department of Education’s Office for Civil...more
Following revocation of Obama Administration transgender guidance, the U.S. Supreme Court has vacated the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit’s determination that a transgender student had shown a likelihood of...more
Rescission of Previous Administration’s Guidance Relating to Transgender Students - On February 22, 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education released a Dear Colleague Letter rescinding the...more
On February 22, 2017, President Donald Trump’s administration issued a two-page "Dear Colleague" letter that formally rescinded the Obama administration’s interpretation of transgender student rights as an extension of Title...more
In May 2016, the Obama Administration’s U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights issued a Dear Colleague letter directing schools to recognize and treat...more