Title IX Compliance

Title IX and Compliance

Title IX is not just about athletics.   Title IX is part of the Education Amendments of 1972, the first comprehensive federal law to prohibit sex discrimination in education. It covers women and men, girls and boys, and staff and students in any educational institution or program that receives federal funds. The sexual harassment section of Title IX finally captures attention  Read more in later on this page.  Title IX covers

  • recruitment, admissions and housing;
  • career and technical education;
  • pregnant, parenting, and/or married students;
  • science, technology, engineering, and math education;
  • sexual harassment and assault;
  • comparable facilities and access to course offerings;
  • financial assistance;
  • student health services and insurance benefits;
  • harassment based on gender identity; and
  • athletics.

Every school should have a Title IX compliance officer who works with the school to help with proactive reviews and helps coordinate school responses to complaints.  But how does the Title IX compliance officer do that?  Not all Title IX coordinators know about the resources.  This is why AAUW is offering to help with their distribution.

You can download a copy of the US Department of Education documents. Just click on each link and read it, or save a copy to use.

Some of the most egregious and harmful Title IX violations occur when schools fail to have a Title IX coordinator or when a Title IX coordinator does not have the training or authority to oversee compliance with Title IX. That’s why the U.S. Department of Education issued the new resources for Title IX coordinators to better understand and perform their important job of ensuring that learning environments are free from sex discrimination.

If your school does not have a Title IX coordinator or you do not know who serves in that job, email us. We can refer you to lists of coordinators.

AAUW’s Legal Advocacy Fund Adopts New Case on Sexual Assaults:

Jane Doe et al vs Howard University

The Jane Does maintain that Howard University acted with deliberate indifference to their complaints of sexual assault when the school failed to respond to their requests for information about their cases, and their pleas for support, remedial measures, and academic accommodations.  They also claim that Howard violated Title IX by failing to promptly investigate their complaints of sexual assault, ignoring the university’s own policy prohibiting sex discrimination, and instead took actions which made them vulnerable to further harassment or assault.

Title IX stipulates that schools must act when they learn about incidents of sexual harassment and that students should not have to endure repeated sexual assaults before the school intervenes. Yet, an increasing number of universities across the country have asserted that they do not need to respond to reports of sexual misconduct unless a student experiences a subsequent incident of harassment or violence.

Keep Title IX in The News: Write A Letter to Your Local News Editor

Keep Title IX compliance in the news by posting on social media or writing a letter to the editor to publish in your local newspaper. The Cleveland Plain Dealer published a PD letter on Devos and Title IX written by Kathe Mayer of AAUW Heights-Hillcrest-Lyndhurst Branch on the east side of Cleveland, Ohio. People listen; Kathe received a hand-written note from her Senator.