The Influence Of Title IX

Title IX has become a prevalent topic of discussion over the past few months. Last September Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Education announced that she would be working on rescinding the Obama-era Title IX guidance and implicating a new interim guidance. The #MeToo Movement, a campaign aimed at supporting survivors of sexual violence began taking on momentum due to accusations towards Harvey Weinstein and numerous top-tier celebrates. Recently, former USA Gymnastics team doctor for Michigan State, Larry Nassar has been found guilty for decades of abuse on young students. A scandal that can cost MSU millions for concealing reports and allegations of victims. Now is the time, more than ever to educate ourselves on Title IX and its implications.

Specific duties of the department may vary from campus to campus, but most commonly Student Affairs enforces the regulatory requirement that is known as the Title IX of the Education Amendment of 1972. Title IX is enforced by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights and was signed by Richard Nixon on June 23rd of 1972. The federal law banned discrimination on the basis of sex in any education program or activity that was federally funded (“Overview Of Title IX Of The Education Amendments Of

Department of Education provides what is called an “Interim Guidance,” which addresses obligations of how all schools must implement the statute. The guidelines are not law, but aid institutions in understanding how the Department will enforce and review Title IX cases. According to the Interim Guidance, regardless if a student files a complaint of alleged sexual misconduct or not, it is the responsibility of the schools Title IX coordinator to respond appropriately to investigate and understand what occurred and then act accordingly. All federally funded schools are required by law to respond and mediate any possible hostile situations in educational environments. If a reported complaint is investigated and revealed that sexual harassment or violence has created a hostile setting, the institution must take immediate and effective steps to eliminate the conduct, prevent the recurrence, and appropriately remedy its effects. All institutions of higher education that are federally funded must also work in conjunction with the Clery Act. The Clery Act requires that universities and colleges distribute a public annual security report to students and employees on October 1st every year. The report must include statistics of campus crimes from the past three years along with details of efforts taken to improve the campus. Campus crimes include criminal offenses, hate crimes, arrests and referral of disciplinary action, and VAWA offenses (domestic violence, dating violence,