ANALYSIS: Title IX Lawsuits Have Skyrocketed Since 2013
Dive Brief:
- The number of students who have sued colleges and universities for potentially botching sexual violence cases has exploded in recent years, according to a new analysis.
- The report, published recently in the New York University Journal of Legislation and Public Policy, shows that federal and state courts have sided with institutions across the U.S. a little less than half the time in cases that yielded “substantive decisions.”
- The legal landscape around Title IX may be shifting more as the U.S. Department of Education released its regulations around the federal sex discrimination law.
Dive Insight:
For the last several years, backlash has intensified over guidance the Obama-era Education Department released in 2011 dictating how colleges and universities should adjudicate sexual assault and harassment cases. While the new 2020 regulations will provide uniform expectations on Title IX for all colleges and universities that accept federal funding, court actions have significantly affected how administrators handle sexual assault cases.
The report notes how much more frequently students and others are pursuing Title IX lawsuits. In the 21 months following the release of Obama’s 2011 guidance, only seven federal lawsuits were filed. In 2013, seven more complaints were filed. But in 2014, the number of lawsuits filed climbed to 25, with 45 more coming in 2015; 47 in 2016; 78 in 2017 and another 78 in 2018.
When students file these lawsuits, they are usually alleging institutions have violated one or more of three areas: due process rights under the 14th Amendment, breaches of contract with a student (such as officials not following codes of conduct) or infringement of Title IX in that administrators were biased when adjudicating a case based on sex. The judiciary has needed to intervene more because colleges are not properly equipped to address these cases.
educationdive.com-Jeremy Bauer-Wolf
