Education Law Commons^™

Transgender Student-Athletes Punch Back: A Legal Analysis Of States' "Fairness In Women's Sports Act" And How It Violates The Fourteenth Amendment And Title Ix, Daniel Jimenez

University of San Francisco Law Review

No abstract provided.

Classrooms Into Courtrooms, Naomi M. Mann

Faculty Scholarship

The federal Department of Education’s (DOE) 2020 Title IX Rule fundamentally transformed the relationship between postsecondary schools (schools) and students. While courts have long warned against turning classrooms into courtrooms, the 2020 Rule nonetheless imposed a mandatory quasi-criminal courtroom procedure for Title IX sexual harassment investigatory proceedings in schools. This transformation is a reflection of the larger trend of importing criminal law norms and due process protections into Title IX school proceedings. It is especially regressive at a time where calls for long-overdue criminal justice reform are reaching a boiling point across the nation. Its effects are especially troubling because …

Eyes Wide Shut: Using Accreditation Regulation To Address The “Pass-The-Harasser” Problem In Higher Education, Susan Saab Fortney, Theresa Morris

Faculty Scholarship

The #MeToo Movement cast a spotlight on sexual harassment in various sectors, including higher education. Studies reveal alarming percentages of students reporting that they have been sexually harassed by faculty and administrators. Despite annually devoting hundreds of millions of dollars to addressing sexual harassment and misconduct, nationwide university officials largely take an ostrich approach when hiring faculty and administrators with little or no scrutiny related to their past misconduct. Critics use the term “pass the harasser” or more pejoratively, “pass the trash” to capture the role that institutions play in allowing individuals to change institutions without the new employer learning …

Deliberate Indifference: An Exploration Of The Student Survivor Activism Group Movement, Shyla Kallhoff

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

#MeToo. It’s On Us. End Rape on Campus. #BeTheSwede. Dear UNL. These phrases have united people all over the world to use their voices and speak out about sexual violence. In higher education, these statements empower students to make their voices heard, and simultaneously invoke fear in campus administrators who do not want to be held accountable for the mishandling/lack of Title IX cases. Student survivor activism groups, the subject of this study, have formed at universities around the country and often use similar statements to advocate for changes they feel need to happen. Finding no previous research, it is …

A Gender And Race Theoretical And Probabilistic Analysis Of The Recent Title Ix Policy Changes, Jordan Wellington

Scripps Senior Theses

On May 6th, 2020, after extensive public comment and review, the Department of Education published the final rule for the new Title IX regulations, which took effect in schools on August 14th. Title IX is the nearly fifty year old piece of the Education Amendments that prohibits sexual discrimination in federally funded schools. Several of these changes, such as the inclusion of live hearings and cross examination of witnesses, have been widely criticized by victims’ rights advocates for potentially retraumatizing victims of sexual assault and discouraging students from pursuing a Title IX claim. While the impact of the new regulations …

Let's Get Serious - The Clear Case For Compensating The Student Athlete - By The Numbers - A University Of Michigan Athletic Program Case Study, Neal Newman

Faculty Scholarship

Should college athletes be compensated for their play and if so, how? The first question has been a debate for some time now. But the second question—the “how”—not so much. This writing addresses both questions in depth. With the Ed O’Bannon case that was decided back in August of 2014 and the palaver the Northwestern football team raised in their efforts to unionize, it is acknowledged that the discussions on this issue may have reached its crescendo years ago. That is until now. On September 27, 2019, Gavin Newsom, the Governor of California, signed into law Senate Bill 206. Senate …

The Title Ix Paradox, Emily Suski

Faculty Publications

When Christine Blasey Ford explained to the Senate Judiciary Committee why she had not reported her sexual assault at age fifteen, she captured the struggle of many children who must decide whether to make such reports: “For a very long time, I was too afraid and ashamed to tell anyone the details.” Thousands of sexual assaults happen to children in school each year. Title IX, a potentially powerful civil rights law, should protect them. Title IX’s main purpose is to protect individuals from sex discrimination, including in the form of sexual harassment and assault, in public schools. Yet Title IX …

Title Ix & Menstruation, Margaret E. Johnson, Emily Gold Waldman, Bridget J. Crawford

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

“Oh no. Could I borrow a tampon or pad?” These (or similar) words are familiar to almost everyone who has ever had a period. Even for adults, menstruation can at times be a challenge. For some schoolchildren, it can be an insurmountable obstacle to receiving an education. Students are subject to constant observation by classmates and teachers; they may not have autonomous access to a bathroom during the school day; or they may not be able to afford menstrual products. They may experience menstruation-related peer harassment, restrictive school policies, a lack of access to menstrual products, and inadequate menstruation-related education. …

Good Initiative, Bad Judgement: The Unintended Consequences Of Title Ix's Proportionality Standard On Ncaa Men's Gymnastics And The Transgender Athlete, Jeffrey Shearer

Pace Intellectual Property, Sports & Entertainment Law Forum

Title IX fails to provide the tools or guidelines necessary to equalize opportunities for all student athletes in the collegiate setting despite the government’s continuous effort to explain the law. This failure is because judicial precedent has largely developed around the binary proportionality test of compliance. Title IX was originally intended to equalize educational opportunities for male and female students in order to remedy past discrimination in our society. However, the application of Title IX has frequently created fewer opportunities in athletics due to the unintended relationship between the proportionality standard and the social phenomenon that is the commercialization of …

Symbolism Over Substance: The Role Of Adversarial Cross-Examination In Campus Sexual Assault Adjudications And The Legality Of The Proposed Rulemaking On Title Ix, Hunter Davis

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Traditionally, it has been understood that campus sexual assault adjudications need not take on the formalities of the justice system. Since the consequences faced in campus adjudications are considerably less than punishments faced in the justice system, less process is owed under the Due Process Clause. However, in September 2018, the Sixth Circuit reconceived what constitutes due process in campus sexual assault adjudications in the case of Doe v. Baum. The court found that in cases involving conflicting narratives at public universities, the accused or his agent must have the ability to cross-examine his accuser in the presence of …

Implementing A Uniform Burden Of Proof For Title Ix Coordinators During The Investigation Stage: An Objective And Efficient Approach To Title Ix, Sara Krastins

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

Imagine it is 1972. Congress just enacted Title IX of the Education Amendments, and it is signed into law by President Nixon. For the first time in United States history, legislators recognize sex discrimination as a pervasive issue in educational environments. The law is enacted with the purpose of ending sex discrimination in college sports; for the first few years, that is the only purpose Title IX serves.

Gradually, Title IX expands into the realm of sexual and interpersonal violence on college campuses. Yet despite the law’s expansion, compliance with Title IX is neglected. No entity actively monitors schools’ …

This Is What Democracy Looks Like: Title Ix And The Legitimacy Of The Administrative State, Samuel R. Bagentos

Michigan Law Review

Review of R. Shep Melnick's The Transformation of Title IX: Regulating Gender Equality in Education.

Retitling Title Ix, Matthew F. Marino

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Title IX, a federal education policy put into place in the early 1970s, has been under the microscope for its perceived failure to protect students from sexual misconduct. Since 2011, and especially since 2017, conflict has existed among higher education, the judicial system, and the Department of Education (ED), resulting in little clarity as to proper Title IX response. However, little research exists that attempts to examine court cases for both commonalities and divergence in how higher education institutions respond to Title IX incidents of sexual misconduct and whether those procedures mesh with how the courts view proper Title IX …

The Ncaa's Breaking Point For Equal Opportunity: A Title Ix Perspective On Name, Image, And Likeness Sponsorship Legislation, Joshua C. Sorbe

Honors Thesis

This paper analyzes the efficacy of Title IX when considering national name, image, and likeness (NIL) legislation and NCAA Division I athletic department expenditure behavior. To answer this question, I analyzed Title IX’s legislative history, current compliance rules, recent litigation, and academic literature. Using publicly-available data reported to the US Department of Education, I performed regression analysis on institutional characteristics and expenditure behaviors to assess the impact that spending behavior has on gender equity. My results show that revenue-generating sports had a large impact on spending equity, and disparities in expenditures are more distinct than participation. Ultimately, the market-based exceptions …

The Title Ix Contract Quagmire, Bryce Freeman

Michigan Law Review

Courts and scholars have long grappled with whether and to what extent educational institutions are in contract with their students. If they are, then students can sue their private universities for breaching that contract— ordinarily understood as the student handbook and other materials—when the institution levies a disciplinary action against the student. But what promises, both implicit and explicit, do private universities make to their students that courts should enforce? This question has resurfaced in the Title IX context, where courts have largely drawn clear dividing lines between the rights of public and private university students. This Comment provides a …

Suspended For Sexual Misconduct, Now What?--The Sixth Circuit Splits From The Second On A Pleading Standard For Reverse Title Ix Actions, Thomas Campbell

SMU Law Review Forum

No abstract provided.

When Is Due Process Due?: The Impact Of Title Ix Sexual Assault Adjudication On The Rights Of University Students, Rachael A. Goldman

Pepperdine Law Review

As a part of the Educational Amendments of 1972, Title IX was created to address sex discrimination in sports programs receiving federal funding. However, its scope has ballooned tremendously over the years to include a variety of conduct occurring on college campuses. Currently, Title IX is the primary legislation governing sexual assault and harassment allegations stemming from universities. This Note explores the use of Title IX in universities and addresses the concerns that arise when a civil rights law becomes the primary mechanism for adjudicating allegations of criminal conduct. Specifically, this Note addresses the due process concerns that arise when …

Standing In Between Sexual Violence Victims And Access To Justice: The Limits Of Title Ix, Hannah Brenner Johnson

Faculty Scholarship

Sexual violence proliferates across communities, generally, and is especially prevalent in places like colleges and universities. As quasi-closed systems, colleges and universities are governed by their own internal norms, policies, and federal laws, like Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which address how sex discrimination must be handled in institutions of higher education that are in receipt of federal funds. Title IX focuses on all facets of sex discrimination including reporting, investigation, adjudication, and prevention. When schools are accused of failing to adequately respond to reports of sexual misconduct on their campuses, Title IX has been interpreted by …

An Intersection Of Gender, Race, And Sports: Guidelines For Universities Determining Whether Athletes Accused Of Title Ix Violations Should Be Removed From Their Teams, David A. Grenardo

Faculty Articles

Sexual assault on college campuses remains an epidemic. As universities attempt to handle Title IX complaints regarding sexual misconduct, they must protect the academic environment and integrity of their schools. Since athletes are three times more likely to be accused of sexual assault than non-athletes, and schools have historically mishandled complaints against athletes, the proposed guidelines in this Article provide an equitable approach for determining when an athlete should be removed from his team based on accusations of a Title IX violation. The guidelines are based on the newly implemented Title IX regulations and take into account the interests and …

Title Ix And Official Policy Liability: Maximizing The Law’S Potential To Hold Education Institutions Accountable For Their Responses To Sexual Misconduct, Erin E. Buzuvis

Faculty Scholarship

Title IX, the federal statute that prohibits sex discrimination in education, plays a key role in institutional accountability for sexual misconduct that is perpetrated by a school’s students, faculty, and staff. The Supreme Court has confirmed that Title IX includes an implied right of action for money damages when the institution had actual notice that sexual harassment had occurred, or was likely to occur, and responded to that threat with deliberate indifference. But the deliberate indifference standard has proven to be a high and unpredictable bar for plaintiffs. For this reason, many institutions required the threat of government enforcement—issued in …

Ix: Story About The Law Of Non-Discrimination - Documentary, Denzel Jenkins

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this project is to provide historical awareness for how Title IX, the anti-gender discrimination law in education, evolved to where it is today and the impact it has on universities in the United States. Strong-willed individuals sought change in the late 1960s and 1970s to prevent gender discrimination in education, thus beginning the creation of the law and making it a powerful tool for women’s rights. As Title IX expanded its reach, universities have been shaped by gender discrimination in athletics, sexual assault, harassment and rape. This project outlines the evolution of Title IX through research based …

Title Ix And Gender Stereotype Theory: Protecting Students From Parental Status Discrimination, Jocelyn Tillisch

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment asserts that students who experience discrimination on the basis of parental status have a cause of action under Title IX by using the gender stereotyping theory that is common in Title VII analysis as illustrated by Tingley-Kelley v. Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania. Part I will first provide an overview of the applicable law surrounding Title IX and Title VII. Part II will briefly summarize application of the gender stereotype theory and the applicable case law that provides the legal framework for this proposition. Part III will detail how the Title VII framework can be followed to …

On The Basis Of Sex(Ual Orientation Or Gender Identity): Bringing Queer Equity To School With Title Ix, Chan Tov Mcnamarah

Cornell Law Review

A transgender fourth-grader's teacher refuses to address her by her preferred name and gender. A lesbian high-school student's sexual education class does not teach her about topics relevant to her experience as a queer woman. A gay male college student's campus does not have LGBT-specific post-sexual assault care. Under aformal equality approach to Title IX, can any of these discriminations be remedied? Unfortunately not. And yet, recent victories for the LGBT community have been won on formal equality arguments-that LGBT persons should be treated the same as heterosexual, cisgender persons. In the shadow of marriage equality, the LGBT community has …

Title Ix And Title Vii: Parallel Remedies In Combatting Sex Discrimination In Educational Employment, Lynn Ridgeway Zehrt

Marquette Law Review

The federal circuit courts of appeals are divided over the proper relationship between Title IX of the Higher Education Amendments Act of 1972 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Specifically, the federal courts disagree over whether an employee of an educational institution may sue her employer for employment discrimination under either Title IX or Title VII. Some courts have concluded that these employees may not bring employment discrimination claims under Title IX, holding that Title VII provides the sole avenue for obtaining monetary relief for employment discrimination against educational institutions. Other courts have reached the opposite …

The School Civil Rights Vacuum, Emily Suski

Faculty Publications

Recent cases of pervasive sex abuse at universities, including those committed by Larry Nassar at Michigan State University and by Jerry Sandusky at Pennsylvania State University, demonstrate the limitations of Title IX as a tool for protecting college students. What has gone far less recognized is that in the K–12 public school context, Title IX and other civil rights laws, including the Fourteenth Amendment, are at least as ineffective at protecting students from sexual, physical, and verbal abuse and harassment. Public school students rarely succeed on Fourteenth Amendment or Title IX claims, even in some of the most egregious cases. …

Removing Camouflaged Barriers To Equality: Overcoming Systemic Sexual Assault And Harassment At The Military Academies, Rebecca Weiant

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

The Education Amendments of 1972 introduced requirements to protect female students from discriminatory policies at post-secondary institutions. A portion of those amendments, commonly known as Title IX, require that no students be subjected to discrimination based on their sex by any educational institution or activity receiving federal financial assistance. An exemption under § 1681(a)(4), however, explicitly prohibits application of Title IX to any educational institution whose primary purpose is to train individuals for military service or the merchant marine. Although those students are still subject to stringent conduct standards, the service academies themselves are tethered to sex discrimination policies only …

Title Ix Violations Arising From Title Ix Investigations: The Snake Is Eating Its Own Tail, Joe Dryden, David Stader, Jeanne L. Surface

Idaho Law Review

In 2011, the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights published a Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) detailing the department’s views on the roles and responsibilities of colleges and universities under Title IX specifically as they relate to allegations of sexual assault. Numerous studies conclude that close to 1 in 5 college women are sexually assaulted while enrolled in institutions of higher education. Many of these studies are flawed yet they are being used as the justification for administrative overreach. Despite not having the legal authority, the DCL changed the legal standard to be applied when conducting sexual assault investigations from …

Sick And Tired Of Hearing About The Damn Bathrooms, Colin Pochie

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Gavin Grimm’s struggle to access restrooms which align with his gender identity brought the plight of transgender students to the fore of national consciousness. With it came scrutiny of the judiciary’s historical failure to understand transgender individuals’ place in the law. The trend in cases like G.G. ex rel. Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board and Whitaker ex rel. Whitaker v. Kenosha Unified School District No. 1 Board of Education is reliance on equality theory and the law of sex stereotyping. And yet sex-stereotyping law does not mesh soundly with equality theory. Equality theory eradicates gendered difference—but the law of …

Taming Title Ix Tensions, Naomi M. Mann

Faculty Scholarship

The appropriate parameters for sexual assault disciplinary proceedings in public colleges and universities have historically been hotly contested. In recent years, the debate has focused on two competing sets of rights—the more established Title IX rights of the victim and the evolving constitutionally-based procedural due process rights of the accused. This debate over whose rights should be prioritized—those of the victim or those of the accused—is a classic civil rights enforcement dynamic. How can educational institutions effectuate the equality mandate of Title IX while not infringing on the constitutionally-based procedural due process rights of the accused? The Executive Branch, through …

A Title Ix Conundrum: Are Campus Visitors Protected From Sexual Assault?, Hannah Brenner

Faculty Scholarship

Sexual violence is a significant and longstanding problem on college campuses that has been made even more visible by recent media attention to the #MeToo movement. Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 addresses discrimination (including sexual violence) that impedes access to education; the law demands compliance from federally funded schools related to their prevention of and response to this problem. The U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted the law to contain an implied private right of action that can be brought against a school for its deliberate indifference to severe and pervasive sex discrimination about which it has knowledge. …