This panel will explore emerging institutional challenges in complying with Title IX, in both K-12 and higher education. Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 protects people from discrimination “on the basis of sex … under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” Although originally seen primarily as an initiative to promote gender equity in athletics, the broad language of the law leaves it substantially open to interpretation. Today, a great deal of controversy surrounds the application and breadth of Title IX among educators, administrators, policy makers, and stakeholders in education.
This panel will discuss the current challenges in institutional compliance with Title IX such as:
· The recent Dear Colleague letter on transgender students issued by the U.S. Department of Education, in both its procedural and substantive dimensions;
· The Dear Colleague letter on sexual harassment issued by the U.S. Department of Education, in both its procedural and substantive dimensions, including its implications for due process rights of accused persons;
· The effects of Title IX on student and faculty expression, and its interaction with academic freedom and principles of free speech.