What Supportive Measures Are Supposed to be Provided by Your School When a Title IX Issue is Raised?
| | Title IX, Title IX: Procedure
Over the past several years, the rules colleges and universities are required to implement to investigate and adjudicate Title IX matters raised on campus have been in flux. Different federal administrations have made substantial changes based on political priorities.
However, one constant in all the changes is that incidents are still being reported, and schools are still obligated to provide certain supportive measures for both complainants and respondents. In other words, the attention focused on assessing the issues raised in a complaint should not detract from the attention owed to the people involved in Title IX matters and the measures a school should provide to ensure that they are adequately supported during and after the process has concluded.
The Title IX Coordinator Should Be Accessible
Title IX is a federal law that requires educational institutions to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex. This includes sexual harassment and sexual assault. Schools must adopt rules forbidding discriminatory behavior and establish procedures for accepting and handling complaints of violations.
Among the requirements are a series of rules regarding the designation of a Title IX Coordinator on each campus. At major universities, schools will often hire someone to focus on the duties of this position full-time. However, at K-12 schools or smaller colleges, the person designated as Title IX Coordinator may be responsible for numerous other institutional roles.
Schools are required to make clear who the Title IX Coordinator is on campus and how to contact the Coordinator. Depending on the version of the rules in force, schools may also be required to make this information available to prospective students, prospective employees, parents, and others. The point is that anyone who could potentially file a Title IX complaint should be aware of the existence of the Title IX Coordinator and be able to access them. For instance, the name and contact information should appear on the school’s website.
Before a complainant or respondent can receive supportive assistance, it must be possible to report the matter to the Title IX Coordinator without undue hardship.
What Are Supportive Measures?
Supportive measures that are supposed to be provided to complainants and respondents in a Title IX matter are services that are intended to keep the process fair and as comfortable as possible for both parties to limit the trauma and disruption while providing equal opportunities to move forward. These services are intended to be non-punitive, although they can result in inconvenience and limited opportunities that could be potentially viewed as punitive. Services are supposed to be tailored to the specific needs of the individual complainant and respondent in the case. They may be provided before a complaint is filed, while the case is under investigation, or after the adjudication process has concluded.
Measures should strike a balance that provides equal access to educational programs for both the complainant and respondent. The goal is to avoid unnecessarily or unreasonably placing a burden on either party.
Examples of Title IX Supportive Measures
The supportive measure most people are familiar with and expect is access to professional counseling. Both the complainant and the respondent undergo considerable trauma during a Title IX case, and the pressure tends to increase as the campus proceedings move forward. However, students, faculty, and staff involved in a case can be reluctant to seek out counseling or other supportive measures for fear of concerns such as a potential lack of confidentiality or the prospect of not being believed.
Other types of supportive measures involve academic workloads. Professors might be requested to extend deadlines or adjust course requirements in other ways. Employees or students might work out a change in schedule or location to avoid contact between the complainant and respondent.
Students living on campus might have housing locations changed, or the school might provide additional security measures at certain points on campus.
A respondent might be ordered not to have contact with the complainant, but to make the restriction fair, the complainant would be placed under a similar obligation to avoid contact with the respondent. This is known as a mutual No Contact Order or Directive. The school may also determine to impose an interim suspension for the respondent. This measure is subject to appeal by the respondent based upon specific grounds for appeal as provided by the school’s policies.
Both complainant and respondent should be provided with equal access to advocacy and confidential resources.
The goal of supportive measures is to ensure that both the complainant and respondent remain safe and can access their education in a non-discriminatory environment. Measures should also deter misconduct. When supportive measures are implemented effectively, the parties involved in a Title IX case should continue to have access to campus resources and educational opportunities. However, in the real world, this can be hard to implement fairly for both parties.
When Schools Fail to Provide Equal Supportive Measures
Educational institutions have some freedom in determining what supportive measures they will offer, but the key is that the measures must be offered fairly to both parties to the greatest extent possible. The Title IX Coordinator should assess the needs of both the complainant and respondent and develop a personalized support plan for each.
When the Coordinator fails to conduct an adequate assessment or the plan for support favors one party over the other, it can harm that party’s opportunity to receive a fair outcome in the case and pursue educational goals.
If Your School Failed to Provide Equal and Adequate Supportive Measures, Nesenoff & Miltenberg May Be Able to Help
At Nesenoff & Miltenberg, we protect the rights of students, faculty, and staff in Title IX cases. We know that schools often tend to favor either complainants or respondents when matters arise, and we work to ensure that schools provide fair support and treat everyone involved with the respect they deserve.
If you believe a school failed to respect your due process rights in a Title IX case or you are filing or responding to a complaint and want to ensure that your rights are protected throughout the process, we invite you to contact our team for a confidential consultation.