Title IX

When sexual misconduct occurs, educational institutions must mobilize their resources to eliminate the harassment, prevent its recurrence and address its effects. Many measures must be taken within a very short period of time to ensure that an investigation is conducted and the complaint is addressed effectively and in a timely manner. This process has a lot of moving parts and many layers of legal requirements.

Our attorneys frequently help educational institutions thoughtfully comply with Title IX, the Violence Against Women Act and the Clery Act. For convenient access to key compliance documents, we have collected the resources we use and recommend to clients. Administrators should ensure their policies and procedures conform to the law — with colleges and universities paying special attention to the newly revised Clery Act regulations — and should follow those policies and procedures with an eye towards these provided resources.

Title IX Regulations

On April 19, 2024, the U.S. Department of Education released its unofficial copy of the final Title IX regulations, effective August 1, 2024, along with several interpretive documents:

Final regulations (official)
Summary of the major final provisions
Resource for drafting policies, notices, and procedures
Fact Sheet

On June 23, 2022, the 50th Anniversary of Title IX, the U.S. Department of Education issued new proposed regulations that focus on revisions to the grievance procedures, the scope of sex discrimination, and protections for pregnant individuals.

Proposed Title IX Procedural Regulations
Proposed Title IX Regulations Regarding Athletics

Events

Title IX In Focus | Free Webinar Series
Monthly Webinars | 2024 - 2025 | 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM CT

K-12 Title IX Toolkit

The Bricker Graydon K-12 Title IX Toolkit is designed to assist school districts with their efforts to comply with the final Title IX Regulations published by the U.S. Department of Education on May 19, 2020, and effective on August 14, 2020.

Title IX Trainings

All recent guidance from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights emphasizes the importance of training administrators, teachers/faculty, staff, students, investigators and adjudicators on Title IX information and implications. Our experienced attorneys are available to schools, colleges, universities and adult education programs to provide comprehensive Title IX employee training customized to your institution’s policies, procedures and institutional culture.

We use real-life scenarios and exercises to help your employees gain experience even before your first case begins. Examples of topics include:

Legal and policy requirements
Confidentiality versus privacy
Determining appropriate charges
No-contact orders and other interim measures
Rights of the parties and the importance of equity
Role of the advisor in the complaint process
Conducting interviews
Collection and preservation of physical evidence
Working with law enforcement and children services
Evaluating credibility
Effects of trauma
Investigative report preparation
Evaluating consent or non-consent
Intoxication and incapacitation
Stalking
Intimate Partner Violence
Making determinations under a preponderance of the evidence standard
Determining appropriate sanctions
Athletic culture and Title IX
Hazing and sexual misconduct
Healthy fraternity/sorority culture

The format of the training can range from one-hour presentations for employees with reporting duties to two-day intensive workshops for those heavily involved in processing and investigating Title IX complaints. We can tailor presentations to an individual institution or provide more general information to groups to reduce costs. We have also developed training for athletic departments to help meet your institution’s NCAA obligations with relation to sexual violence.

Please contact Melissa Carleton or Josh Nolan for additional information on how our training programs can be customized to help your educational institution.