On October 7, 2020, in response to many questions about terms used in the newly revised Title IX regulations, effective August 14, 2020, the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) clarified several key terms. OCR provided revised definitions for: “sexual assault”; “dating violence”; “domestic violence” and “stalking.” In the recently revised regulations, the definition of sexual harassment relied upon provisions in Federal statutes. To allay confusion, OCR issued a blog post which clarified those definitions.
Furthermore, OCR stated in its blog post that “for the first time, OCR will enforce a legally binding definition of sexual harassment to include even a single instance of these serious forms of sex-based sexual harassment: quid pro quo harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence and stalking. Previously, OCR analyzed whether such conduct was sufficiently ‘severe’ or ‘pervasive’ to be covered under Title IX. No longer will OCR evaluate whether sexual misconduct of this nature meets a severe or pervasive threshold before Title IX protections are triggered. Now, each of these forms of sexual misconduct will constitute a per se incident of sexual harassment.”
To aid in compliance, Districts should revise their Title IX policies to conform with these new definitions. Go to https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/blog/index.html to read the full OCR blog post. Also, if you haven’t already done so, SLRMA Members should review the Checklist posted on June 30, 2020 entitled “Responding to Sexual Harassment Allegations: Revised Self-Audit Checklist and Best Practices for School Districts.”
For more guidance on Title IX compliance, SLRMA Members can download our previously posted Checklist, “Responding to Sexual Harassment Allegations: Revised Self-Audit Checklist and Best Practices for School Districts.” Download here: