HuffPo on DOE lawsuit

The Huffington Post reports on a new lawsuit targeting the U.S. Department of Education at http://ow.ly/4mXgV7. Commenting on their alleged violations of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) through the 2011 DCL, President & CEO Brett Sokolow: “Sub-regulatory guidance is inherent in OCR’s authority to administer the equity mandates of the Title IX regulations, which were appropriately authorized under the APA.”

Scott Lewis interviewed by KCENTV regarding Baylor’s Title IX Office

The NCHERM Group Partner and ATIXA Founder and Advisory Board Member W. Scott Lewis, J.D. quoted by KCENTV in Waco, Texas regarding work by #titleix Office at Baylor University. 

KCEN interviewed W. Scott Lewis, a nationally-recognized Title IX investigator and partner with the NCHERM Group, which works with campuses on handling sexual assaults.

Lewis said Universities, not just Baylor, have misinterpreted Title IX requirements for years. According to him, the law actually required Universities to have a Title IX coordinator since its inception in the 1970s.

“To be quite frank, most schools didn’t pay attention to it,” Lewis said. “It wasn’t until the ‘Dear Colleague’ letter in 2011 that suddenly everyone started appointing a coordinator that they were supposed to have for the prior 40 years.”

On Friday, Baylor released a plan of action that includes creating more counseling space and mandating annual Title IX training for upperclassmen and graduate students. Before, only incoming students took part. Now, faculty and staff will get yearly training, too. And, Baylor promised to fully fund continuing education for those working in the Title IX Office.

Lewis said Universities need to remember that their investigations are completely independent from law enforcement investigations. Even if a prosecutor doesn’t believe he or she can prove a case to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt, Universities can still take their own disciplinary action based on what they deem to be sufficient evidence.

“They have to have effectively trained investigators to do this, not just well, but exceptionally well. They need to be able to respond promptly, effectively, impartially and resolve these matters appropriately,” Lewis added.

http://ow.ly/YtC75

The Top Ten Things We Need to Know About Title IX (That the DCL Didn’t Tell Us) featured in the 2013 URMIA Journal

This article provides a top 10 list of Title IX related priorities for institutions of higher education in 2013. Title IX requires gender equity for boys and girls in every educational  program that receives federal funding. While most think of Title IX in terms of athletics, it addresses 10 key areas in addition to athletics: access to higher education, career education, education for pregnant and parenting students, employment, learning environment, math and science, sexual harassment, standardized testing, and technology. Higher education administrators and risk managers can review these top 10 considerations and reflect on what their institutions are doing - or need to be doing - to ensure they are effectively handling related risks.

To read the article, visit URMIA's website or click here.

W. Scott Lewis clarifies OCR position in The Atlantic

A recent The Atlantic article (Which Matters More: Reporting Assault or Respecting a Victim's Wishes?) critiques Columbia's "conservative reading of Title IX" and the policy implications that order faculty and staff to report cases of sexual harassment even when the student has pleaded for secrecy. The NCHERM Group Partner W. Scott Lewis clarifies OCR's intended position on mandatory reporting: "the Office of Civil Rights wanted deans, directors, assistant directors, VPs, and provosts to be the 'responsible employees' who must report sexual harassment. These are the people who can do suspensions or no-contact orders, move people from residence halls, or find other solutions to a sexual harassment problem."