Institutions should carefully review their policies and practices now that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Education (ED) have recently formed a special investigations team to increase and prioritize...more
On March 20, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order (EO), “Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities,” directing the secretary of education “to the maximum extent appropriate...more
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Acting Chair Andrea Lucas issued a statement on March 17, 2025, notifying universities and colleges that the EEOC intends to hold them accountable for antisemitism in on-campus...more
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) directing educational institutions that they are prohibited from using race in decisions pertaining to admissions, hiring,...more
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has rescinded the name, image, and likeness (NIL) guidance under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 issued in the final days of the Biden...more
2/20/2025
/ Biden Administration ,
Colleges ,
Department of Education ,
Equal Protection ,
Name and Likeness ,
NCAA ,
OCR ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Student Athletes ,
Title IX ,
Trump Administration ,
Universities
On Feb. 5, 2025, the White House published executive order (EO) “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” aiming to “protect opportunities for women and girls to compete in safe and fair sports [.]” The EO establishes a federal...more
On Jan. 29, 2025, President Donald Trump signed the “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling” executive order (EO) and the “Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families” EO, directing federal agencies to...more
2/7/2025
/ Charter Schools ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Department of Education ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Funding ,
Gender Identity ,
Private Schools ,
Public Schools ,
Secretary of Education ,
Trump Administration
How to engage in name, image, and likeness activities (NIL) without running afoul of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is a question colleges and universities have wrestled with since the NCAA first permitted the...more
1/28/2025
/ Colleges ,
Compliance ,
Equal Opportunities ,
Federal Funding ,
Name and Likeness ,
NCAA ,
OCR ,
School Sports ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sports ,
Student Athletes ,
Title IX ,
Universities
The Biden Administration’s April 2024 changes to Title IX regulations were struck down in a court ruling that applies nationwide. State of Tennessee v. Cardona, No. 2: 24-072-DCR (E.D. Ky. Jan. 9, 2025). The Kentucky federal...more
1/13/2025
/ Biden Administration ,
Bostock v Clayton County Georgia ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Compliance ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Department of Education ,
Educational Institutions ,
Final Rules ,
First Amendment ,
Gender Identity ,
School Policies ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Title IX ,
Transgender ,
Trump Administration
Some colleges and universities, out of an abundance of caution, are advising their foreign national students and staff who are traveling abroad for winter break to consider returning before President Donald Trump’s...more
In response to increases in discrimination complaints, the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (OCR) issued a Dear Colleague Letter: Protecting Students from Discrimination, such as Harassment, Based on Race,...more
5/10/2024
/ Dear Colleague Letter ,
Department of Education ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
First Amendment ,
Harassment ,
Hostile Environment ,
Israel ,
Muslims ,
National Origin ,
OCR ,
Religious Discrimination ,
Title VI
The U.S. Department of Education has released its final amendments of the regulations to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 regarding how educational institutions must handle allegations of sexual discrimination and...more
The U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division (WHD) is in the process of publishing industry-specific guidance for compliance with the 2022 Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (PUMP Act). In...more
Continuing its efforts questioning the constitutionality of the use of race in higher education admissions, Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) has filed a lawsuit in the District of Maryland against the U.S. Naval Academy on...more
The U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division have published a joint Dear Colleague Letter (Joint OCR and DOJ DCL) that, together with a Q&A, provides...more
8/29/2023
/ Affirmative Action ,
Dear Colleague Letter ,
Department of Education ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Educational Institutions ,
Equal Protection ,
OCR ,
Race Discrimination ,
Students ,
Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard College ,
Title VI
The U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has proposed a standard that would clarify participation and equal opportunity of transgender students in school athletics....more
The U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has published a factsheet entitled “Diversity and Inclusion Activities Under Title VI,” clarifying that diversity, equity, and inclusion training “in most factual...more
The “New York Collegiate Athletic Participation Compensation Act” (S.5891-F/A.5115-E) allows New York college athletes to receive compensation for their name, image, and likeness (NIL) without losing their scholarships or...more
Over decades, hundreds of colleges and universities have worked to increase the racial diversity of their student bodies for a host of reasons ranging from eliminating past discriminatory practices to ensuring their students...more
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released a fact resource on October 4, 2022, reaffirming that Title IX of the Education Amendments Act protects students and employees from discrimination based...more
The Virginia Department of Education issued new 2022 Model Policies pursuant to Virginia School Code § 22.1-23.3 that reverse the 2021 Model Policies. The new policies provide that parents, not students, must communicate with...more
The revised Case Processing Manual (CPM) issued by the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) outlines the procedures OCR uses “to promptly and effectively investigate and resolve complaints, compliance...more
Bringing together general counsel, Title IX coordinators, equity directors, ethics officers, and other key administrators, along with outside counsel, the National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA) 2022...more
A school district infringed on an assistant football coach’s rights under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment when it suspended him for continuing to publicly pray after football games in violation of its policy,...more
In conjunction with the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the U.S. Department of Education has released its proposed amendments to the regulations for Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 for public comment....more