A Year After the February 14, 2025 USDOE Dear Colleague Letter and Title VI Coordinator Best Practice Issues
#WorkforceWednesday: The Ripple Effect of the Supreme Court’s SFFA Ruling for Diversity in the Workplace - Employment Law This Week®
Business Better Podcast Episode: Is DEI at Risk? Considerations on the US Supreme Court Ruling Against Affirmative Action Programs
Gartenberg v. Cooper Union became one of the most closely watched campus antisemitism cases in the country after a federal court permitted the students’ Title VI deliberate indifference claims to proceed in February 2025. And...more
With graduations upcoming and students in the midst of final exams, leaders at education institutions know summer break is just around the corner. K-12 schools, colleges, and universities have spent this school year facing...more
Texas AG Ken Paxton sent CVS Health a letter warning that the company’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives may violate state and federal anti-discrimination laws, potentially exposing the company to Medicaid fraud...more
The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) legal landscape continues to shift and present new risks as DEI continues to be a focus for the federal government and ideologically aligned state Attorneys General. ...more
When parties are preparing for mediation, it’s not uncommon to focus on financial resolutions. But in disputes involving identity, emotions, loss, or impact to reputation — such as employment litigation or higher education...more
Last year, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued guidance stating that it would no longer pursue disparate impact discrimination claims against employers under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. ...more
On March 25, 2026, the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice opened compliance review investigations into medical school admissions at Stanford University, Ohio State University, and UC San Diego. The letters...more
On April 23, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order #14280 (EO 14280), “Reinstating Commonsense School Discipline Policies.” This order directs the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Attorney General to issue new...more
On Wednesday March 25, 2026, the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) launched investigations into medical school admissions policies at Stanford University, the University of California, San Diego, and...more
As I step into my role on the ATIXA Advisory Board and begin thinking about how to contribute to the field before retirement in a few years, I find myself reflecting on a career grounded in problem-solving, careful listening,...more
The General Services Administration has proposed requiring all federal funding recipients to certify that they do not maintain diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) programs. Recipients also would also need to...more
In Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (SFFA), the Supreme Court held that the use of race-conscious decision-making in admissions violated federal law. The complex and often opaque nature of the admissions process,...more
Where Training, Certification, and Community Come Together - Join us in Denver, CO, June 7-11, 2026, for in-person learning designed for professionals in Title VI, Title IX, non-discrimination, and civil rights...more
Many colleges and universities have created civil rights offices that address both sexual misconduct and protected status discrimination and harassment. In creating these offices, institutions are best served by...more
Numerous school districts across the United States still operate under desegregation orders originally implemented in the decades following the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which held that racially...more
Organizations that receive federal grants, loans, or other financial assistance may soon be required to certify that they do not operate “illegal DEI” programs....more
Federal contractors and grant recipients are operating in a period of unusual transition. The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) rewrite is advancing through agency deviations while formal rulemaking is set to begin. ...more
The US Department of Education recently abandoned its legal defense of controversial guidance that sought to ban DEI programs at colleges and universities nationwide. On January 21, the Department quietly dismissed its appeal...more
One year after the DOE’s Dear Colleague Letter, institutions are still wrestling with the shifts in federal enforcement priorities redefining what Title VI compliance means. Jackson Lewis’ Carol Ashley and Dani Bland...more
Establishing a new campus-based Office for Civil Rights or Title IX office can feel like building the plane while flying it. When you’re the inaugural coordinator with no preexisting budget, it can be daunting to determine...more
The U.S. Department of Education, on Jan. 21, 2026, withdrew its appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit aimed at defending its anti-DEI Dear Colleague Letter issued last year. The Trump Administration’s...more
On January 21, 2026, the United States Department of Education ("ED" or the "Department") stipulated to the dismissal of its appeal in American Federation of Teachers, et al v. U.S. Department of Education, which had been...more
On December 10, 2025, the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a Final Rule rescinding portions of its Title VI regulations to conform more closely with the statutory text and to implement Executive Order 14281. In summary, the...more
The Trump Administration has withdrawn its appeal in a lawsuit challenging the Department of Education’s efforts to curtail diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in school districts and colleges throughout the...more
As the civil rights landscape evolves, many Title IX Coordinators now oversee broader areas of compliance, including Title VI (race, color, or national origin), Title VII (employment discrimination), Section 504 and the ADA...more