A Hostile Environment for Student Defendants: Title IX and Sexual Assault on College Campuses

Abstract

Under Title IX, colleges and universities must resolve claims of rape and sexual assault between students. My article examines Title IX’s administrative and civil enforcement mechanisms to determine what incentives the statute creates for educators dealing with these issues. Unfortunately, I conclude that innocent accused students are unduly prone to false convictions in campus sexual assault adjudications. The only way to fix the problem is to leave claims of sexual violence to the civil and criminal justice systems.

Keywords: Title IX, sexual harassment, Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, OCR, Dear Colleague letter, due process, discipline, rape, sexual assault, Russlynn Ali, Brett Sokolow