Education Law

Does OCR have an Alaska office?

Posted on October 29, 2008
Hope so, because they received a Title IX complaint about the University of Alaska, Anchorage this past summer. The complainant(s) remains anonymous for now and the athletic department is incredulous.Says Athletic Director Steve Cobb:"This complaint is mind-boggling to me...

V is for Victory. So is IX.

Posted on October 27, 2008
That's the great title of a new initiative by the Women's Sports Foundation to encourage girls and parents to think about what kinds of opportunities are afforded to male and female athletes at their schools. The page also features a couple of videos which are short, funny (but probably too close to the painful truth at some schools) and to the point: For parents: V is for Victory...

Obama, McCain answer questions on Title IX and women in STEM

Posted on October 25, 2008
Earlier this month the Obama and McCain campaigns answered questions presented to them by the Association for Women in Science and the Society of Women Engineers. The entirety of their answers can be found here. The questions are largely centered on how the candidates intend to achieve more gender equity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, including how Title IX might be enforced across the academy--and not just in athletics...

Teacher's Complaint Prompts Title IX Investigation, Changes to Facilities

Posted on October 24, 2008
The New Hanover (N.C.) County Schools, which had been under investigation by the Office for Civil Rights, recently agreed to upgrade athletic facilities and locker room for female athletes, who had been receiving inferior access in violation of Title IX...

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A look into the gender gap in higher ed

Posted on October 23, 2008
Inside Higher Ed reported last week about a new study by Linda Sax that examines some of the nuances behind the numbers of women and men attending college. We know, of course, how the increase in the number of female students has affected athletics, increasing the number of opportunities for participation in sports--especially in those schools choosing to comply with the proportionality prong...

"if I had my choice of clients to represent, I would side with the plaintiffs."

Posted on October 21, 2008
That's what a lawyer for FGCU reportedly told its Board of Trustees at an August meeting to encourage the Board to settle with Coach Flood, Coach Vaughn, and general counsel Wendy Morris, who had all brought gender discrimination and retaliation lawsuits against the university...

Title IX Bloggers Publish on Jennifer Harris Case

Posted on October 17, 2008
With apologies for tooting our own horn, my co-blogger Kris and I are pleased to announce that the Journal of Sport and Social Issues has published our article about race and the Jennifer Harris case.Here is the abstract:In 2007 Penn State basketball coach Rene Portland retired shortly after a confidential settlement ended a discrimination lawsuit brought by former player Jennifer Harris against Portland and Penn State...

WIU using survey data

Posted on October 17, 2008
Cited for not providing opportunities to meet the needs and interests of its female students and not providing equitable amounts of publicity to its current male and female teams, Western Illinois University will be submitting evidence to explain these alleged disparities to the Office of Civil Rights next month...

The benefits of precedent

Posted on October 16, 2008
As Erin wrote yesterday, FGCU has settled three of the lawsuits it had on its hands. Pat Griffin's dubbing of FGCU as Fresno East certainly became even more appropriate with the news that FGCU had settled with former volleyball coach Jaye Flood, former golf coach Holly Vaughn, and former university counsel Wendy Morris...

School's Response to Teacher's Sexual Misconduct Did Not Violate Title IX

Posted on October 16, 2008
A teacher in Georgia showed students digital pictures of his genitals, but a federal district court concluded that the school's response was sufficient to forestall liability under Title IX.In February 2005, a teacher at Lamar County High School overheard students discussing that their history teacher, Tyshon Byrd, had shown them pictures of genitals that were on his cell phone...

$3.4 Million Is "The Price of Retaliation"

Posted on October 15, 2008
We just learned that Florida Gulf Coach University will pay $3.4 million to settle a lawsuit filed by two former coaches, Jaye Flood and Holly Vaughn, who allege that they were terminated in retaliation for raising concerns about gender discrimination in the athletic department (more press about the settlement here and here)...

California Court Says Title IX Standards Apply to State Law Claims for Peer Harassment (but the Plaintiffs Win Anyway)

Posted on October 15, 2008
Section 220 of California's Education Code provides that students shall not be discriminated against on the basis of a number of protected categories, including disability, gender, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation. However, it is not clear on the face of this broadly worded statute when a school district violates this provision by failing to protect a student from harassment by his or her peers...

District Court Upholds Damages Award in Sexual Harassment Trial

Posted on October 14, 2008
Last August we blogged about a Title IX case against the Hilldale Independent School District in Oklahoma arising from the sexual abuse of the 14-year-old plaintiff by the band director. At that time, we noted that the case had survived the school district's motion for summary judgment and appeared to be headed for trial...

Column Examines Women, Hockey, and Sarah Palin

Posted on October 14, 2008
If you are as interested as I am in the rhetoric about sports, Title IX, and especially hockey (my favorite sport) surrounding Sarah Palin's candidacy for Vice-President (which we've blogged about before), you may find interesting this column in the Beacon Broadside by the assistant women's hockey coach at University of Minnesota-Duluth...

Women's Sports Foundation Studies Gender Gap in Youth Sports

Posted on October 10, 2008
The Women's Sports Foundation released a new report today about youth sports, examining participation rates and trends across class, race, and geographic regions. Nationally, boys participate in youth sports at higher rates than girls. However, this gap is widest in urban, immigrant, and nonwhite communities...

Court Dismisses Trangender Plaintiff's Bathroom Complaint

Posted on October 09, 2008
A federal court in Nevada recently dismissed a Title IX case brought by the parents of a preoperative male-to-female transgender student (referred to in the decision as "Mary Doe") that challenged the school's decision that would have prohibited her from using the girls' restroom...

Arizona State May Be Liable for Rape by Football Player

Posted on October 07, 2008
In April we posted about a pending Title IX case against Arizona State stemming from a rape committed by a football player, Darnel Henderson, against another student. The plaintiff, identified only as J.K., sued ASU, alleging that in light of university officials' actual knowledge of prior instances of sexual harassment committed by Henderson, they acted unlawfully with deliberate indifference in failing to supervise him or take other corrective action that would have prevented his act of rape against her...

Bristol, PA School District Investigated for Title IX Violations

Posted on October 06, 2008
Booster-raised funds are at the heart of a recent complaint to the Department of Education that the Bristol (Pennsylvania) Borough School District is discriminating against female athletes in the allocation of athletic department resources like facilities, equipment and supplies...

Yale settles sexual harassment suit

Posted on October 04, 2008
Somehow we missed this story about an alleged incident of sexual harassment at the Yale School of Drama. A female student was dismissed from the school in 2005 and subsequently filed a lawsuit citing retaliation after she reported sexual harassment in the context of an acting workshop in which the instructor asked students to simulate masturbation as part of a class exercise...

Court Won't Throw Out Transgender Student's Prom Dress Case

Posted on October 03, 2008
Recently a federal district court judge in Indiana refused to dismiss a lawsuit challenging a Gary, Indiana high school's decision to prohibit a male-to-female transgender student from attending the prom in a dress. We blogged about the case here, after it was filed last December...

Retaliation Case Filed Against Texas Southern University

Posted on October 02, 2008
Another coach has sued her former employer alleging that she was fired in retaliation for speaking out against Title IX violations.Surina Dixon has sued Texas Southern University, alleging that they fired her from the head women's basketball coach position to which she had recently been hired after she insisted on contract terms equivalent to that of the newly hired men's basketball coach...

Title IX Fact Sheet for College Activists

Posted on October 01, 2008
The ACLU Women's Rights Project and Students Active for Ending Rape (SAFER) have collaborated to produce a new fact sheet related to a college or university's obligations to deal with sexual harassment, assault and rape, and the potential liability faced by educational institutions when they are deliberately indifferent to harassment and rape occurring in their educational programs and activities...

Two Sexual Harassment Cases Survive Summary Judgment

Posted on September 30, 2008
Federal district court judges have denied defendants' motions for summary judgment in two separate sexual harassment cases this past week, paving the way for factfinding by a jury in both cases.In Padula v. Morris, a district court in California held that the allegations by a female high school student that her male high school principal hugged her, "rubbed her shoulders and asked her what was the matter in the school hallway, and, during a disciplinary meeting, told her, 'I don't know whether to hug you or spank you' and then hugged her and swatted her on the buttocks as she walked out the door" were legally sufficient to constitute severe and pervasive harassment under Title IX...

Great Title IX Bibliography

Posted on September 29, 2008
Looking for a complete list of Title IX cases, statutes, regulations, studies, articles, books and websites? Check out this new Title IX bibliography by librarian Christine Hepler of the University of Maine School of Law.

College Class for Men Only

Posted on September 29, 2008
In Grant Lopez's speech class last year, he learned how to tie a double Windsor knot, had lunch with the college president and discussed what qualities to look for in a woman.That is the lead from this article in the San Antonio News about a men-only speech class at Northeast Lakeview College, which has recently come under criticism for offering preferential treatment for male students in violation of Title IX...

Add to the settlement column...

Posted on September 27, 2008
...former San Diego State University swim coach Deena Deardruff Schmidt.We can also add Schmidt to the million plus settlement club. SDSU agreed to a $1.45 million settlement in the case. Schmidt did not comment after the settlement was announced (her attorney called it a "fair and reasonable" result), but SDSU is patting itself on the back saying:?The parties agreed that this settlement recognizes the substantial efforts by Schmidt to implement, develop and improve the women's swimming program at SDSU, and reflects her contributions as a coach,? SDSU said in a statement...

Ex-Player Brings Homophobia Case Against SMU Coach

Posted on September 26, 2008
The Dallas News reports that a former Southern Methodist University basketball player, Jennifer Colli, has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the university and head coach Rhonda Rompola. She alleges that Rompola questioned her and other players about their sexual orientations, and then revoked her scholarship when she complained to the athletic director about it...

"The Title IX Blame Game Should End"

Posted on September 25, 2008
...said Marj Snyder of the Women's Sports Foundation to the Wall Street Journal in an article about the Foundation's new study on college sport participation.Consistent with prior studies (e.g.), the WSF report concludes that both men's and women's participation has increased in the last 25 years, which itself should neutralize criticism that Title IX hurts men...

New facilities will resolve WI complaint

Posted on September 24, 2008
Resolution of a 2006 complaint filed anonymously regarding the situation at Arrowhead High School in Wisconsin is forthcoming. The OCR investigation of the complaint that alleged discrimination because the girls' field hockey team did not receive equitable resources compared to boys' teams at the high school...

Implications for Title IX In Transgender Plaintiff's Victory in Landmark Title VII Case?

Posted on September 24, 2008
Last week a federal district judge in D.C. held that the Library of Congress unlawfully discriminated against Diane Schroer when it rescinded the job offer made to her prior to learning of her plans to transition from male to female. The ACLU attorneys who represented Schroer advanced and prevailed on two theories to explain why she should win under Title VII, the federal statute that prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sex (among other categories, but not gender or gender identity)...

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