The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) found an Illinois school district in violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 this week for denying a transgender student access to girls’...more
According to a recent Department of Justice (DOJ) settlement, some pets are allowed in the house. HUD filed and settled a civil rights lawsuit against RiverBay Corporation, a New York City-based affordable housing cooperative...more
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued new guidance yesterday regarding the applicability of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to service animals. The new guidance underscores the DOJ’s 2010 revisions to the ADA...more
The U.S. Department of Education’s rule implementing changes to the Clery Act under the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2014 (VAWA) takes effect today. The final rule was published in the Federal Register on...more
On April 24, 2015, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released a guidance package that reminds educational institutions of their responsibilities under Title IX. This guidance package, issued...more
A judge in the Southern District of New York recently granted summary judgment to Vassar College in a case brought by a former student accused of sexual assault. The plaintiff alleged that Vassar violated Title IX and various...more
In recent weeks, several colleges and universities have faced a flurry of high-profile race-based harassment incidents, requiring a thoughtful balance of constitutional and fairness questions while ensuring that students feel...more
In its April 2014 report, the White House Task Force to Protect Students From Sexual Assault promised to release a sample Memorandum of Understanding to provide guidance to institutions of higher education that wish to...more
Today, the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) published in the Federal Register the final rule implementing changes to the Clery Act under the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA). In another recent...more
Yesterday, eight U.S. senators introduced the Campus Accountability and Safety Act, a bill that proposes to amend the Higher Education Act and the Clery Act to include new requirements for addressing sexual violence on...more
The U.S. Department of Education proposed a new rule yesterday implementing changes to the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act) under the Violence Against Women...more
6/20/2014
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced a “landmark” consent decree with the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) to resolve allegations of “widespread and systemic” violations of the Americans with...more
Increasingly, students with disabilities bring service animals to college campuses. This means that educational institutions must sort through an array of competing federal and state laws governing the use of such animals in...more
The White House Task Force To Protect Students from Sexual Assault today released its first report, which contains a series of recommendations focused on identifying the scope of sexual assault on college and university...more
Negotiators empaneled by the U.S. Department of Education (Department) recently reached consensus on several preliminary campus safety rules that should be published in the coming months under the Campus Sexual Violence...more
Effective today, colleges and universities face new obligations regarding reports of crime statistics, student disciplinary procedures, and policies and procedures to address and prevent sexual violence on campus. The...more
In a memorandum issued earlier this week, President Obama announced the formation of an interagency task force to address incidents of rape and sexual assault at colleges and universities. Citing “uneven” compliance with...more
A U.S. District Court judge last week ordered Creighton University to provide a medical student who is deaf with auxiliary aids and services for effective communication, including Communication Access Real-time Transcription...more
The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) announced earlier this week that Logan University in Missouri settled a pregnancy discrimination complaint that the NWLC filed with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil...more
Educational institutions are advised to audit their procedures for investigating and responding to race-based conduct in light of recent news reports about incidents of bullying, hazing, and racial harassment.
Today,...more
The U.S. Department of Education recently informed Lincoln University, located in Jefferson City, Missouri, that it intends to fine the university $275,000 because it did not comply with the requirements of the Jeanne Clery...more
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) recently announced that its compliance reviews of two educational institutions found one institution did not comply with Title IX in responding to incidents of...more
A U.S. District Court judge ruled recently that the State of Maryland and the Maryland Higher Education Commission failed to desegregate the State’s system of higher education as required by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act...more
The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently issued a Dear Colleague Letter and related questions and answers about the use of race in admissions following...more