Contact: Rebecca Stewart
Telephone: 513-479-3335
Email: info@saveservices.org
Federal Office for Civil Rights Launches Investigations of Title IX Discrimination Complaints by Male Students
WASHINGTON / July 9, 2019 – Following hundreds of lawsuits by male students alleging disparate and unfair treatment by institutions of higher education (1), the federal Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has begun to open investigations into some of these cases. The OCR is known to be conducting 24 investigations at universities in the following states: CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, IL, IN, MA, MI, NC, NJ, RI, SC, TN TX, and WI. The cases have been opened by the OCR Regional Offices located in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, District of Columbia, New York, and San Francisco (2).
The most common complaint involves allegations of denial of benefits. One of these investigations is targeting the University of Michigan, which sponsors 11 scholarships, support groups, and medical treatment programs that exclude male students, in direct violation of Title IX sex-discrimination mandates (3).
A smaller number of complaints involves due process infractions. Two weeks ago, for example, it was announced that the OCR opened an investigation against Northwestern University for failing to provide due process protections for two men accused of sexual misconduct. One student accused the university of engaging in the sex-biased practice of “believe the victim.” (4)
The OCR already has closed investigations that found in favor of male students at Wesley College, Delaware, and Tulane University. In August 2018, OCR opened an investigation of Tulane’s six scholarships reserved for women. Four months later, Tulane entered into a resolution agreement with the OCR, agreeing to ensure that financial assistance is fairly distributed to both male and female students (5).
A recent analysis of scholarships at 115 of the nation’s largest universities revealed widespread discriminatory policies. Among 1,161 sex-specific scholarships, 91.6% were reserved for female students, with only 8.4% designated for male students (6).
Title IX is the federal law designed to prevent sex-based discrimination in educational institutions that received federal financial assistance. Information on how to file an OCR complaint is available on the SAVE website (7).
Citations:
- https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQNJ5mtRNzFHhValDrCcSBkafZEDuvF5z9qmYneXCi0UD2NUaffHsd5g4zlmnIhP3MINYpURNfVwSZK/pubhtml#
- http://www.saveservices.org/equity/ocr-investigations/
- https://www.aei.org/publication/an-update-on-my-efforts-to-advance-civil-rights-equity-and-justice-and-end-discrimination-in-higher-education/
- https://dailynorthwestern.com/2019/06/21/campus/federal-officials-are-investigating-northwesterns-title-ix-process-after-two-men-allege-gender-bias-and-failure-of-due-process/?fbclid=IwAR3HdfBNb2IgF_XxAhWbflipeXvKoKs9AOxBwTpjb61XEUQ2SNdRoTY3mpw
- https://pjmedia.com/trending/female-lawyer-gets-tulane-university-to-stop-discriminating-against-men/
- http://www.saveservices.org/equity/scholarships/
- http://www.saveservices.org/equity/file-ocr-complaint/
The SAVE Title IX Equity Project is working to assure that the Title IX law is fairly and consistently applied and enforced: www.saveservices.org/equity