Free Republic

A male graduate is suing Cornell University in federal court, claiming that he was treated unfairly and unlawfully during a University Title IX investigation. It is the third lawsuit of its nature in seven months, and the second time in the same period that a student or former student has claimed the University’s behavior gave him suicidal thoughts. The newest complaint, filed on Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, accuses Cornell’s Title IX coordinator, Sarah Affel, of discriminating against a former student, “John Doe,” based on his sex, religion and ethnicity. The man, who...

To those of us who have followed the Obama Administration's machinations on Title IX, and much else, it does not come as much of a surprise that the last two Secretaries of Education skirted traditional practice, if not legal guidelines, in consulting no one when they undertook their transformation of Title IX. "The Department imposed these regulatory burdens without affording notice and the opportunity for public comment," the new letter reads. "Under these circumstances, the Department has decided to withdraw the above-referenced guidance documents in order to develop an approach to student sexual misconduct that responds to the concerns of...

A female author subjected to a Title IX tribunal for questioning rape culture in an article is now the subject of a SECOND tribunal for writing “Unwanted Advances: Sexual Paranoia Comes to Campus”, a book that includes a description of her first Title IX tribunal.

It is very rare for a federal agency to admit having made a mistake and rarer still for the secretary of a cabinet department to announce a U-turn in policy in a heavily publicized speech. But that is exactly what Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos did on September 7. Speaking at George Mason University, Secretary DeVos went straight after the most contentious element of the Obama Administration’s higher education policy, namely its interpretation of Title IX of the Higher Education Amendments of 1972. The language of the statute was twisted by bureaucratic fiat (a “Dear Colleague” letter) from prohibiting discrimination...

"One university leader was rightly appalled when he was asked by an Office for Civil Rights official: 'Why do you care about the rights of the accused?'" – Betsy DeVosOne of the many disasters the Obama Administration put in place was a reinterpretation of Title IX that led to colleges setting up kangaroo courts that were heavily stacked against men in rape cases. Men were not given due process; the standard of guilt was changed from beyond a shadow of a doubt to “a preponderance of the evidence;” men were denied meaningful counsel; men were not allowed access to information...

'Unwanted Advances' is a clarion call for accusatory university cultures gone madA spectre is haunting the American campus, and it’s called Title IX. Originally, you might remember, Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 was the law that required colleges to have women’s as well as men’s sports teams. It still does that, but since 2011 it does a lot more: Title IX, overseen by the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, now covers not just gender discrimination but all forms of sexual misconduct—a generously interpreted term that, if you’re a professor, now seems to include your...

At a time when even liberals think that federal Title IX rules have gone too far in sexual harassment cases, college administrators who help to enforce them remain oblivious to their excesses. The Association of Title IX Administrators (ATIXA) published their "Playbook," per a recent press release. ATIXA heralded their "Playbook" as a "120-page book developed by nationally-recognized experts and field-leading practitioners as a comprehensive guide to ensure that the resolution of sexual misconduct allegations on college campuses is done right." What is the subtitle? "Best Practices for the Post-Regulatory Era." ATIXA claimed that the subtitle was chosen "to highlight...

If every other egregious example of a male student denied due process after being accused of sexual misconduct gets ignored – this one should not be. A male student who was accused of sexual harassment committed suicide just days after the University of Texas at Arlington ignored its own policies in order to punish him. The accused student’s father, a lawyer acting as the administrator of his son’s estate, is now suing the school for violating his son’s Title IX rights. College administrators, as well as members of the media and legislators, would do well to remember the name Thomas...

"You should consider killing yourself." That's what Thomas Klocke, a straight male student at the University of Texas at Arlington, allegedly told a gay male classmate after finding out about his sexuality during class on May 19, 2016. The classmate filed a Title IX complaint with the university. The problem? Klocke denied ever having made such a comment. In his version of the story, the classmate came on to him during class, calling him beautiful. Klocke felt uncomfortable, told the classmate he was straight, and moved to a different seat after the classmate wouldn't stop looking at him. The classmate...

Thomas Klocke, a student at the University of Texas at Arlington, killed himself a few days after an adverse Title IX ruling left his future academic career in doubt. Ashe Schow of Watchdog.org reports on what sounds like another example of college administrators abusing the civil rights of accused students in ways that would never be allowed in a court of law. At issue are two different version of an exchange that took place in class one day last May. The accusing student…claims that in May 2016, Klocke made a comment during a class about “privilege,” and then proceeded...

Laura Kipnis, a professor at Northwestern University, faced a Title IX investigation from the U.S. Department of Education over an essay on sexual paranoia among Millennials and their professors and administrators on college campuses (which appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education). Now, Harper Collins published her account of what happened, which also includes content and background on reasons for an increasing lack of due process, the emergence of sexual paranoia, and the stepped-up Title IX investigations. Kipnis pointed out that a Title IX investigation from the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (known as OCR) "can last two...

A group of students and parents from Minnesota filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the federal government and their school district for allowing a transgender student who was born male but identifies as female into the girls’ locker rooms, showers, and restrooms. The lawsuit is the latest in a series of challenges to the Obama administration’s bathroom mandate issued in May that requires public schools and universities nationwide to give transgender students full access to school facilities based on their gender identity instead of their biological sex. Schools that do not comply with the administration’s guidance could face legal action or...

With the first day of school looming, Texas will go to court on Friday and begin pressing its argument that the Obama administration strayed outside the law by ordering public schools to accommodate transgender students. In a case expected to come down to the distinction between sex and gender identity, the state’s lawsuit against the federal government is set for its first hearing Friday morning in Fort Worth, where U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor will hear arguments over Texas’ request for a preliminary injunction. Texas, joined by 10 other states, in May sued the Department of Education over the...

ASHINGTON, D.C. (August 2, 2016): A new Minnesota law requires all of its colleges to have websites where students can report allegations of sexual assault, naming the alleged perpetrators, but do so completely anonymously. According to the Washington Post, “that means survivors no longer will be forced to trek across campus to a Title IX office.” But that also means that students, or perhaps even non-students, can, just with a few keyboard clicks, trigger a criminal and/or administrative investigation of the student or faculty member named, irreparably smearing his reputation, and perhaps even leading to his expulsion, and to do...

For high school girls across the country, the competition for college-athletic scholarships is on the verge of ascending to a whole new level. The 44th anniversary of Title IX is less than two weeks away, but recent events suggest that the face of female athletics is changing forever. A totally new caliber of athletic prowess is being invented for womenÂ’s sports, and ordinary women simply wonÂ’t have enough equality to compete. To the surprise of no mentally stable person ever, women like Bruce Jenner will prove virtually impossible to beat when it comes to antiquated women competing against them for...

Quick (no web searching!), who was the 2016 NCAA Division I women's basketball champion? (Don't tell me that your office didn't do a women’s NCAA tournament bracket contest!) Okay, given that they've (UConn) won it four times in-a-row, that's too easy. Let's try again: Who was the last (2015) WNBA champion? (Hint: They've won it four of the last five seasons.) Don't feel bad, I didn’t know either, and twice in their recent five-year championship run they defeated the team from my home state in the championship series. Even better: Can you name five WNBA teams? How about five WNBA...

The Obama administration's directive Friday that every public school provide transgender access -- or face the loss of federal funds -- drew swift and strong condemnation from conservatives, with one public official blasting it as presidential "blackmail." The administration’s directive -- citing Title IX in telling schools to give transgender students access to all activities and facilities consistent with their gender identity -- effectively touched off a national debate that could well extend into the next president's term and reverberate through the courts. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, speaking to reporters Friday, said his state "will not yield to blackmail...

In a 2–1 panel ruling in mid April, a federal appellate court decided (or at least seemed to think that it decided) that G.G., a girl who identifies herself as male, has a legal right to use the boys’ restrooms at her high school in rural Gloucester County, Va. In so doing, the panel’s majority, consisting of two appointees of President Obama, kowtowed to the Obama administration’s radical claim that federal law requires any college or school that receives federal funding to make its single-sex restrooms, locker rooms, showers, housing, and sports teams available to “transgender students consistent with their...

“We wouldn’t be here if they hadn’t started it,” the senior Alexis Townsend said. What she meant is that when Georgia State created a football team in 2010, that put an immediate strain on athletic department finances but also required a rebalancing to comply with Title IX, the federal law mandating gender equity in higher education. A result was that Georgia State dropped its men’s cross-country and track and field programs, and added one in the nascent women’s sport of beach volleyball.

The U.S. Department of Education published Friday a list of faith-based colleges and universities that requested and were granted a religious exemption from Title IX. LGBT activist groups have been calling on the government to publish the list as part of a shaming campaign called the "Shame List" to pressure Christian colleges to consent to their agenda. The document reveals that an increasing number of colleges are seeking exemptions, and that evangelical Wheaton College is not on the list. As of April 1, as many as 232 colleges have obtained exemption from Title IX while 31 requests are pending, according...