On June 29, 2024, one year passed since the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), which overturned fifty years of legal precedent in striking down the race-conscious admissions programs at...more
On April 19, 2024, the US Department of Education issued the final version of its new and long-awaited Title IX regulations. The Final Rule’s release follows a notice-and-comment period that drew over 240,000 comments from...more
5/1/2024
/ Department of Education ,
Educational Institutions ,
Final Rules ,
Investigations ,
New Regulations ,
Notice and Comment ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Sexual Conduct ,
Title IX ,
Trump Administration
On March 4, 2024, the Supreme Court vacated the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals’ judgment in a case challenging Virginia Tech’s bias intervention and response team policy, instructing the court to dismiss the case as moot. ...more
From the classroom to the boardroom, attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) gained significant momentum in 2023. Bolstered by their victory at the Supreme Court in the Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) cases,...more
1/10/2024
/ Affirmative Action ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Educational Institutions ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Risk Assessment ,
SCOTUS ,
Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard College ,
Students for Fair Admissions v University of North Carolina ,
Title VII
On August 10, 2023, Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, called for the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate top universities for allegedly coordinating their admissions policies following the U.S....more
9/5/2023
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
College Admissions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Educational Institutions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Investigations ,
SCOTUS ,
Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard College ,
Students for Fair Admissions v University of North Carolina ,
Universities
On August 14, 2023, the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights issued joint guidance directed at colleges and universities in the wake of the Supreme Court’s...more
8/16/2023
/ Affirmative Action ,
Biden Administration ,
Civil Rights Act ,
College Admissions ,
Colleges ,
Department of Education ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Educational Institutions ,
Equal Protection ,
SCOTUS ,
Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard College ,
Universities
On June 29, 2023, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. President & Fellows of Harvard College and SFFA v. University of North Carolina. In a 6-3 decision[1] authored by Chief Justice...more
7/3/2023
/ Bias ,
College Admissions ,
Colleges ,
Discrimination ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Educational Institutions ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Race Relations ,
Rehabilitation Act ,
State Labor Laws ,
Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard College ,
Title VII ,
Universities
As a growing number of state legislatures across the country advance anti-DEI initiatives before the end of their respective legislative sessions, diversity statements are in the crosshairs. Diversity statements began...more
Earlier this month, the Department of Education released an “Athletics Notice of Proposed Rulemaking,” which would prohibit federal funding recipients from categorically excluding transgender students from the athletics teams...more
The last few years have been eventful and, at times, difficult ones for institutions of higher education. Institutions have been deeply impacted by issues ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic, to debates over free speech, to...more
2/3/2023
/ Antitrust Litigation ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Biden Administration ,
College Admissions ,
College Athletes ,
Colleges ,
Competition ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
DACA ,
Department of Education ,
Diversity ,
Educational Institutions ,
Immigration ,
Loan Forgiveness ,
New Rules ,
OCR ,
Race Discrimination ,
Student Loans ,
Students ,
Title IX ,
Universities
Threats to DEI initiatives are not new, but the types of litigants and lawsuits underlying these threats are evolving. As discussed in previous client alerts, the coordinated attack on DEI programs already extends well beyond...more
On October 31, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North Carolina, in which the...more
10/26/2022
/ Admissions ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Colleges ,
Educational Institutions ,
Equal Protection ,
Ethnicity ,
Fourteenth Amendment ,
Oral Argument ,
Race Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Students ,
Title VI ,
Universities
The Department of Education marked the fiftieth anniversary of Title IX, the landmark civil rights law prohibiting sex discrimination in federally funded education programs and activities, by releasing its highly anticipated...more
6/29/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Department of Education ,
Disciplinary Proceedings ,
Educational Institutions ,
Gender Identity ,
Gender-Based Violence ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Sexual Assault ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Sexual Violence Policies ,
Students ,
Title IX
On February 8, 2022, the National College Players Association (NCPA), an advocacy group for college athletes, filed unfair labor practice charges before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against the National...more
2/28/2022
/ Alston v NCAA ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Educational Institutions ,
Employee Definition ,
Employee Rights ,
Employees ,
Labor Regulations ,
NCAA ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Student Athletes ,
Students ,
Unions
Yesterday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a pair of cases asking the Court to overrule its precedents governing the consideration of race in college admissions. One case concerns admissions at Harvard College, and the other...more