Title IX Ensures Every Student Is Safe and Supported at School

Sex Based Harassment

• The new rule restores schools’ obligations to address sex-based harassment when it impacts a student’s ability to learn and feel safe in school. For example:
• Survivors will no longer be forced to endure repeated and escalating levels of abuse before they can ask their schools for help. 

• Students can receive help when they are harassed or assaulted off campus, online, or while studying abroad and are required to attend classes with their rapist or abuser.
• Colleges and universities can no longer ignore sex-based harassment just because it is reported to a lower-ranked employee, who might include a coach, athletic director, or professor.
• Schools can no longer ignore a complaint just because it is filed by a survivor who has already dropped out of school due to the harassment.
•  Schools must respond to sex-based harassment with “prompt and effective” action. For example:
• Schools can no longer be able to mistreat and even punish survivors without consequence.
• Schools must offer supportive measures (such as counseling, academic accommodations, changes to housing, no-contact orders, and more) to all students who report sex-based harassment, even if they do not want an investigation and even if their complaint is dismissed.  

• Schools must use fairer procedures to investigate complaints of sex-based harassment. For example:
• Colleges and universities can either (1) interview all parties and witnesses in individual meetings or at a live hearing; or (2) have the parties’ advisors to conduct cross-examination at a live hearing. This gives schools the flexibility to question students in a way that respects students’ constitutional equality and due process rights and ensures fairness for all students.
• Schools must use the same standard of proof for all other types of harassment and discrimination instead of singling out sex-based harassment for a more burdensome standard of proof.

LGBTQI+ Students:

• For the first time, the Title IX rules explicitly define sex discrimination to include discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, sex characteristics (including intersex traits), and sex stereotypes. This affirms what the courts have already said for decades: that sex discrimination includes anti-LGBTQI+ discrimination.

• Schools cannot prevent a person from participating in a school program or activity consistent with their gender identity. This affirms that every student has the right to be who they are at school, including using school facilities, dressing, being addressed by staff and students, and otherwise participating in schools in a manner consistent with their gender identity.

Pregnant and Parenting Students:

• Schools cannot discriminate against students based on pregnancy, lactation, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, or recovery from these conditions. A school employee who knows about a student’s pregnancy or related condition must give the student the Title IX coordinator’s contact information, and the Title IX coordinator must inform the student of their Title IX rights. 
• Pregnant and parenting students cannot be excluded from school, but they can take voluntary leaves of absence. Specifically                                                                                                      – Schools cannot require a pregnant or parenting student to get a healthcare provider’s approval to participate in school unless such approval is required of all students. This prevents schools from excluding pregnant and parenting students from activities like a science lab or physical fitness activity using regressive sex stereotypes that are not based in medical science.
                  – Schools must allow pregnant and parenting students to take a voluntary leave of absence for as long as is medically necessary and to reinstate them to their prior academic and, if possible, extracurricular status when they return. This ensures that pregnant and parenting students do not have to choose between their health (or the health of their pregnancy or child) and their education.
• Schools must accommodate pregnant and parenting students. Specifically: 
          – For the first time, pregnant and parenting students have an affirmative right to “reasonable modifications” (like a bigger desk, footrest, elevator access, and more) instead of only being accommodated to the extent that their school accommodates students with temporary disabilities. 
          – Schools must provide a private, clean, non-bathroom space for students to lactate or breastfeed.

To learn more about these important rule changes, read this factsheet.

What is Title IX?

Title IX is a federal civil rights law that protects all individuals (including students and employees) from sex discrimination in education. 

Passed in 1972, Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, which inlcudes sexual orientation, gender identity, sex characteristics (including intersex traits), pregnancy and related conditions, and sex stereotyping in schools that receive federal funds. 

Because Title IX is a federal law, its protections apply even in setates that do no provide the same protections. 

These IX protections protect individuals against discrimination in all aspects of education, including:

• Sex-based harassment, including sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking
• Anti-LGBTQI+ discrimination, including unequal access to sex-separated school activities and facilities, like school bathrooms and locker rooms
• Discrimination based on pregnancy or related conditions
• Dress codes, school policing, and other discriminatory school discipline based on sex
• Discrimination in athletics based on sex
• Discrimination in recruitment, admissions, counseling, and financial assistance
• Retaliation for reporting sex discrimination

Where and How to File a Complaint

If you have experienced school-based bullying, harassment, or discrimination, you can file a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education.

Things to know about filing a complaint:

• You are entitled to file a claim. Nearly every public school receives some level of federal funding and is therefore covered by Title IX. That means public school students who experience, bullying, harassment, or discrimination may file a claim with the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education. Time is of the essence. A complaint must be filed within 180 days of when the bullying, harassment, or discrimination occurred. 

• Your confidentiality is assured. Every claim remains confidential and will not be shared without permission.
• A third party may file a claim on behalf of another person. In other words, the person making the complaint doesn’t have to be the one who experienced the harassment. A friend, family member, or school faculty member can file the complaint.
• Title IX makes it unlawful for the school to  retaliate against anyone who has made a complaint, or testified, assisted, or participated in any manner in an investigation or proceeding under the law.
• You should complete the entire form-when filling out the report. Make sure to fill out the entire form. Incomplete information may result in a dismissal of your complaint.

How to file a complaint:

An electronic complaint form and detailed information about filing a complaint are available on the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education website.

Read the instructions and click “Continue to Complaint Form” at the bottom of the page to get started.

If you have experienced school-based bullying, harassment, or discrimination, you can file a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education.

Things to know about filing a complaint:

• You are entitled to file a claim. Nearly every public school receives some level of federal funding and is therefore covered by Title IX. That means public school students who experience, bullying, harassment, or discrimination may file a claim with the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education.
• Time is of the essence. A complaint must be filed within 180 days of when the bullying, harassment, or discrimination occurred.
• Your confidentiality is assured. Every claim remains confidential and will not be shared without permission.
• A third party may file a claim on behalf of another person. In other words, the person making the complaint doesn’t have to be the one who experienced the harassment. A friend, family member, or school faculty member can file the complaint.
• Title IX makes it unlawful for the school to  retaliate against anyone who has made a complaint, or testified, assisted, or participated in any manner in an investigation or proceeding under the law.
• You should complete the entire form-when filling out the report. Make sure to fill out the entire form. Incomplete information may result in a dismissal of your complaint.

How to file a complaint:

An electronic complaint form and detailed information about filing a complaint are available on the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education website.

Read the instructions and click “Continue to Complaint Form” at the bottom of the page to get started.

What You Can Do if You Experience Bullying, Harassment, or Discrimination

• Notify a teacher or school leader (for example, a principal or student affairs staff) immediately. If you don’t get the help you need, file a formal complaint with the school, school district, college, or university. Keep records of your complaint(s) and responses you receive.
• Write down the details about what happened, where and when the incident happened, who was involved, and the names of any witnesses. Do this for every incident of discrimination, and keep copies of any related documents or other information.
• If you are not proficient in English, you have the right to ask the school to translate or interpret information into a language you understand. If you have communication needs because of a disability, you have the right to receive accommodations or aids and services that provide you with effective communication.
• Counseling and other mental health support can sometimes be helpful for a student who has been harassed or bullied. Consider seeking mental health resources if needed.
• Consider filing a complaint with the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice at civilrights.justice.gov (available in several different languages), or with the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education at www.ed.gov/ocr/complaintintro.html (to file a complaint in English) or www.ed.gov/ocr/docs/howto.html (to file a complaint in multiple languages).