News
OCR Publishes Revised Questions and Answers on the 2020 Title IX Regulations on Sexual Harassment on June 28, 2022
On Tuesday June 28, 2022, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) updated the Questions and Answers on the Title IX Regulations on Sexual Harassment, which was originally issued in July 2021. The update reflects the court ruling in Victim...
U.S. Department of Education Releases Draft Title IX Regulations: So, What’s Next?
The U.S. Department of Education (“Department”) released its draft Title IX regulations on the 50th anniversary of the passage of Title IX, June 23, 2022. You can find the draft regulations here. So, what happens next? These are draft regulations, and the Department...
OCR Announces Resolution of Pregnancy Discrimination Investigation of Salt Lake Community College
On June 14, 2022, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights announced they reached a resolution agreement with Salt Lake Community College regarding a student’s complaint of pregnancy discrimination. At the crux of OCR’s finding was that the College...
Executive Order on Advancing Equality for LGBTQI+ Individuals
On June 15th, 2022, the Biden Administration issued an Executive Order (EO) on Advancing Equality for LGBTQI+ individuals, as well as a fact sheet about the EO. The EO outlines a series of plans and policies to address the systemic discrimination and barriers that the...
Department of Justice Weighs in on School District’s Potential Liability for Alleged Discrimination by Outsourced School Resource Officers
The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently filed a statement of interest in a pending federal court case on disability discrimination. The DOJ files a brief like this when the government has an interest in clarifying the law at issue, or how the law is applied. Here the...
New York Education Law 129-B Certification Reminder: A Message from Andrea and Joe for New York Schools
An important reminder for New York schools: July 1 is the annual deadline for certification submission to the New York State Education Department (SED). This year is a “basic” certification year, requiring only the signed form certifying compliance with 129-A and...
Grand River Solutions Welcomes Kateeka Harris
Grand River Solutions is thrilled to announce that nationally recognized expert Kateeka Harris will be joining our team as a Senior Solutions Specialist. Kateeka is the previous past president for the Association for Student Conduct Administration, where she also...
Meet Andrea Stagg, Grand River Solutions’ New Director of Consulting Services
Grand River Solutions is excited to introduce Andrea Stagg, Director of Consulting Services. Andrea has extensive experience in higher education in-house legal settings at public and private colleges and universities, and brings proven expertise on issues relating to...
Taking Stock of the Survey – Advantages and Challenges of a National Climate Survey
A National Climate Survey Requirement The 2022 federal Omnibus legislation1 included a new requirement that the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) develop and administer a climate survey of college student experiences with domestic violence, dating...
U.S. Supreme Court’s Ruling in Cummings will Impact Valuation of Title IX Cases
In Cummings v. Premier Rehab Keller PLLC, the Supreme Court applied contracting principles to four federal laws under which aggrieved people can sue for damages. In doing so, the Court found that emotional distress damages were not foreseeable by recipients of federal...