The new school year often brings some Title IX news. Stories that address what a girl versus a boy is allowed to wear for yearbook photos or whether the women's cross-country roster is being padded with runners from winter/spring track have made the back-to-school news in the past. This summer has … [Read more...]
Chicago Public Schools making changes
In 2010, the National Women's Law Center named the Chicago Public School District as one of the worst offenders of Title IX (along with 11 other districts nationwide). Last week, the district entered into an agreement with OCR that will add more opportunities in girls' sports. The district must … [Read more...]
Don’t forget to follow the law!
The Department of Education released three new documents last week related to Title IX, specifically the role of the Title IX coordinator. One is a "Dear colleague" letter from Secretary Catherine Lhamon that begins by reminding all schools that they must appoint a Title IX coordinator: "I … [Read more...]
Expulsion for bathroom use
My last blog post a few weeks ago was a hopeful one about transgender students and bathrooms. This post, less hope, more dismay. A federal judge has ruled that the expulsion of Seamus Johnston from the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown was not in violation of anti-bias statutes and dismissed … [Read more...]
Bathroom policies that make sense
It is always nice to Friday blog a positive story. Pierce College, a community college in the state of Washington, issued a memo to the college community this week about the use of bathrooms by transgender individuals. My cursory Google news search did not reveal any particular incident, though … [Read more...]
FSU responds to Title IX lawsuit
Florida State President John Thrasher responded to the news that the university was facing a Title IX lawsuit as a result of its handling of the sexual assault allegations against Jameis Winston (who has announced--as expected, though apparently the party line is that he only decided earlier this … [Read more...]
Another bathroom case: New Jersey edition
A transgender student in New Jersey won a several month battle with his school district to use the boys' bathrooms. Unlike the situation in Virginia, the school board did not pass a formal policy stating that bathroom use was dependent on sex at birth. But Rubin Smyers and his advocates and allies, … [Read more...]
What should we take from Miller’s firing?
This post will start cynical (it has not been a great week for discrimination against women in sports) but I will try to end on an up(ish) note.So we can now add to the list of things that will get female coaches fired/dismissed/forced into retirement: having too high of a salary. This joins … [Read more...]
Dept of Ed weighs in on records release
We wrote in July about writer Jonathan Krakauer's attempts to get the records related to the hearings and disciplinary actions against a University of Montana quarterback. He was initally granted access but the decision was appealed and the Department of Education is filing an amicus brief … [Read more...]
Court asked to reconsider NU lawsuit
The student whose lawsuit against Northwestern University was dismissed last month has asked the court to reconsider or vacate its decision based on new evidence. The initial dismissal was due to a lack of evidence that NU showed deliberate indifference in responding to the student's report of … [Read more...]