A nursing student who was mistreated by her school won $1.7 million in damages in a lawsuit against the school. But this win feels like a loss in many ways for Title IX advocates. Not only did the court reject the student’s efforts to assert her Title IX rights, but they may also have established …

Continue reading "Winning the Battle but Losing the War: Student Wins on Contractual Grounds but Court Denies Title IX Claim"

Both Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 provide measures for protecting employees on campuses from discrimination and harassment on the basis of sex. Both are also federal laws. But with frequent changes in regulations and judicial rulings interpreting the statutes, it can be …

Continue reading "How Do Title IX and Title VII Overlap?"

Sexual misconduct can be hard to acknowledge and even hard for some people to recognize. Standards in society have shifted dramatically in recent decades, and conduct that was once considered merely in poor taste is now blatantly illegal. Other forms of sexual misconduct such as sexual assault used to be commonly ignored or downplayed on …

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Students who engage in sexual activity on or off campus must ensure that their partner consents according to legal standards. No one can give consent when they are incapacitated. Those rules are clear. Failure to abide by them leaves students open to Title IX complaints and potential criminal or civil liability. What is not always …

Continue reading "What are Consent and Incapacitation?"

It’s natural to want a fresh start. But sometimes, our society finds that a person’s actions make them so dangerous to others that we cannot afford to give them a second chance. The “Tracy Rule” sets the bar to determine when student athletes are past the point of no return. It describes the circumstances that …

Continue reading "Impact of the Tracy Rule for NCAA Student Athletes"