Dinse Brief

Friends and Colleagues,

As you are no doubt already aware, the Department of Education released the final Title IX regulation on Wednesday, May 6, 2020.  The official version will be published in the Federal Register later this month, and the new regulation becomes effective on August 14, 2020.

The final rule has many important provisions and some significant changes, including:

• Defining sexual harassment to include sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking, as unlawful discrimination on the basis of sex;
• Requiring live hearings and cross-examination through a party’s advisor;
• Requiring technological solutions to give parties the option to remain in separate rooms;
• Imposing certain “rape shield” protections and upholding certain privileges, such as the physician-patient privilege; and
• Permitting certain informal resolution procedures.

A group of Title IX attorneys across the country—including Dinse attorneys—are working on a free resource, available here:  https://system.suny.edu/sci/tix2020/.  It will be updated daily with additional analysis and insight in the coming days.

For more information, or for assistance with planning to implement the new regulation on your campus, please contact Kendall Hoechst, khoechst@dinse.com, or Natasha Baker, nbaker@dinse.com.