Title IX Hearings Next Week

By Justine Dunlap, Co-Editor

From June 7 through June 11, the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights will conduct 40 hours of virtual public testimony aimed to improve the enforcement of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The public testimony spots are filled but individuals are encouraged to submit written testimony.

These hearings are being held in response to Executive Order 14021, issued March 11, 2021, in which President Biden ordered Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona to conduct a review of Title IX, including the much discussed and controversial regulations that went into effect last May.

Much about the new regulations deserve scrutiny and change. But they are not all bad. One beneficial component of the new regulations is the deletion of the term responsible employee and the concomitant de-emphasis on the widespread designation of nearly all university employees as mandatory reporters. Mandatory reporters are employees who must report when a student discloses an assault to them, even if the student opposes reporting.

As I detail in Harmful Reporting, 51 New Mexico Law Review 1 (2021), widespread mandatory reporting can be harmful to someone who wants to disclose sexual assault and receive help but who is against or even ambivalent about a formal report that removes the process from the student’s control. Sexual assault is, at its core, about the loss of control and healing involves regaining control. Thus, mandatory reporting—initially conceived as a positive step to address campus sexual assault–can depress disclosure and continue trauma to the discloser by removing her autonomy and control. Either of these results is contrary to the mandate of Title IX to provide equality in educational opportunity.

More information about the upcoming hearings, including how to attend or submit written comments, can be found at https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/department-educations-office-civil-rights-announces-virtual-public-hearing-gather-information-purpose-improving-enforcement-title-ix