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May 6, 2020

2020 Title IX Regulations: Promoting Fairness, Reliability, and Consistency in Campus Disciplinary Proceedings

Authors

Patricia Hamill and Lorie Dakessian

On May 6, 2020, the Department of Education announced its new Title IX regulations (the regulations begin on page 2008), taking a much-needed step toward promoting fundamental fairness, reliability, and consistency in campus disciplinary proceedings. The regulations are firmly rooted in the principle that Title IX protects access to education for all parties – complainants and respondents, males and females – and that disciplinary proceedings should be fair to all.

Key protections under the Department of Education’s 2020 Title IX regulations include:

  • The right to adequate notice of charges and applicable procedures
  • Gatekeeper assessment. Complainants proceed only if they pass a certain threshold
  • Impartial investigators and decisionmakers
  • Thorough, fair investigations where educational institutions consider exculpatory and inculpatory evidence and share it with parties
  • A live hearing, including the opportunity to cross-examine the other party and witnesses
  • A presumption the respondent is not responsible unless the standard of proof is met.

“The Department specifically notes that this has been the standard for nearly 20 years,” says Patricia Hamill, Co-Chair of the Title IX and Campus Discipline practice. “The regulations…simply codify legal principles that have been ignored by colleges and universities for far too long.”

Learn more about what the Title IX regulations mean for promoting fairness, reliability, and consistency here.