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ATIXA Newsletter
March 7, 2019
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Join us in Minneapolis for Civil Rights Investigator Level One Training & Certification!
This course provides foundational knowledge and skills for civil rights investigators, deputies, and Title IX Coordinators/Administrators who perform and/or oversee campus investigations. The primary focus is mastering investigation of campus sexual misconduct and sexual harassment.
This training meets the required training mandates of Title IX and VAWA Section 304 for participants, whether you are a full-time investigator or have investigation responsibilities on top of other duties.
Good practice rests on solid foundations, and you need those fundamental elements. Attend this training if you are either an inexperienced investigator, have not been trained before, or want to solidify your fundamentals in Title IX.
You'll walk away from this training with an understanding of the legal underpinnings of Title IX and VAWA Section 304, as well as useful templates, practical rubrics, and the key tools of the professional civil rights investigator. Do not let this opportunity in MN pass you by!
Dates
: Tuesday, June 4th - Wednesday, June 5th, 2019
Register today by clicking
here.
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ATIXA Releases Position Statemen
t:
When Sexual Harassment Definitions Are in Limbo, Go Back to the Statute Itself
ATIXA issues this position statement to discuss how Title IX is a statute prohibiting only one thing: discrimination on the basis of sex in federally-funded educational programs. It doesn't prohibit sexual harassment, or sexual violence, or athletics inequity, or stalking, or intimate partner violence, or even bullying, unless those actions deny access to or participation in a federally-funded educational program on the basis of sex, at which point they become conduct prohibited by the statute. Considered conversely, Title IX guarantees access to federally-funded educational programs on the basis of sex. If a person within a federally-funded educational program is not experiencing a limitation in participation or denial of access, benefits, or opportunities on the basis of sex, Title IX does not apply. Your conduct policies might apply. Your sexual misconduct policy might apply. But Title IX does not.
ATIXA has
also
released a flowchart designed to Assess Potential Sex Discrimination. Click
here
to view the flowchart and
read the full statement from ATIXA.
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Sign Up Today!
Proposed Regulations: Steps to be Taking Now Webinar on March 19th at 4:00pm EST
Complimentary for Super and Premium Level Members
Please check your landing pages to obtain the code to register online free of charge
$249 for all other ATIXA Members
$349 for non-ATIXA Members
Are you feeling like you're caught in Title IX limbo? If so, you're in good company. And, that feeling is not unreasonable. The courts are in an activist mode, and it seems they are changing sexual misconduct procedural protections every week now. We're working under a 2017 OCR Interim Guide that just about everyone seems to be ignoring. Venerable 2011 and 2014 OCR guidance is gone. Proposed new regulations saw 105,874 comments (mostly disapproving of the proposed changes), and their future hangs in the balance of a political process, a national election, and seemingly endless potential litigation. Against this crazy backdrop, what is a conscientious Title IX administrator to do?
In this webinar, Title IX experts
Brett A. Sokolow, J.D. and
Daniel C. Swinton, J.D., Ed.D. will offer their thoughts for current best practice, highlight the first principles that undergird Title IX no matter what political winds are blowing, and try to prepare you for where the future direction of litigation and regulation is likely to take us. Plus, we'll talk about the wave of new policies banning employee-student relationships, and what you ought to be considering as pressure mounts to revise those policies, as well.
The webinar will be approximately 90 minutes in length. All attendees will receive the recording with purchase. A recording of the webinar will be available for purchase for those unable to attend the live event.
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Sanction Option for Education
We have just finished up a particularly difficult case on non-consensual sexual contact (penetration). It was a very close case and as part of the sanctions, my committee is considering dismissal from school for a year and then wanting to add requirements for party to return to school in a year if they choose.
I have two questions:
- Is an educational sanction appropriate in a sexual assault type case?
- What kind of educational options would you have as a sanction?
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Sign Up Today!
Recent Due Process Rulings by the California Courts: What Do California Colleges and Universities Need to Know and Do?
April 1st, 2019 from 2:00pm - 3:15pm PST
Complimentary for Super and Premium Level Members
Please check your landing pages to obtain the code to register online free of charge
$199 for all other ATIXA Members -
Register Now
$299 for non-ATIXA Members -
Register Now
The state courts of California are sending a set of very clear messages about due process. Seven recent rulings. Seven losses for colleges and universities. Who is helping put a stop to this litigation madness?
The writ of administrative mandate? Have you heard of it? The lawyers suing California public and private colleges have, and they've leveraged a string of seven lawsuits by John Doe (he is of the infamous Does, the most litigious family in America) to hold CA colleges liable for due process failures, in sexual misconduct proceedings. The single investigator model can't meet the requirements of the APA in California. Moreover, even formal hearing systems are being shot down by the courts. Cross-examination is now an expectation. You need to update your process before the next lawsuit does it for you.
In this 75-minute webinar hosted by Title IX expert and LA resident
Brett A. Sokolow, J.D.
, Brett shares a review of the key cases that are currently reshaping due process for public and private colleges and universities in California. The webinar then focuses on the practical changes that are required, and how to evolve your resolution processes without fundamentally upending the structures you have already built. Key questions will be addressed, including:
- Why the single investigator model is no longer viable
- How to ensure the independence of the roles of those involved in the resolution process
- How to assure impartiality, structurally
- What role should investigators play? Fact-gatherer? Fact-finder, or something in between?
- How should live interviews be managed at different phases of the process?
- What role, if any, should investigators have in helping to assess credibility?
- How do the CA courts differ from the requirements being handed down in the 6thCircuit and those proposed by OCR?
- How do we meet the expectations of the appeals courts in CA without turning our processes into adversarial mini-courts?
- How do we manage cross-examination with civility?
- What hearing formats are available to us, and how should we staff the decision-making role?
These ten pressing questions will be discussed, along with a live Q&A session with webinar participants.
All live webinar attendees will receive the recording following the event and a recording of the webinar will be available for purchase for those unable to attend live.
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ATIXA offers research grants of $2500 annually, given to those creating new and innovative research in the field of Title IX Compliance and Best Practices.
The
ATIXA Research Award
is granted based on the scope of the study, the contribution to the field, and advancement of best practices.
Those chosen for the research award will be expected to: 1) present their research during a 60 minute ATIXA online training and 2) write a 4-10 page summary of their research findings for use as an ATIXA Member Newsletter Tip of the Week series.
Payment will be made in two installments, one following the ATIXA 2019 Annual Conference in October and the second following the completion of the online training presenting their research. Those submitting for research grants should complete the research grant application by July 12, 2019 by clicking
here.
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Announcing
Campuses and the Courts:
A Spring 2019 Webinar Series from TNG
For years, you've had the chance to attend Case Law Update sessions from TNG at conferences around the country. Now, to reach a wider audience, we're bringing the case law update to you, in the form of a
webinar series.
We will kick off the webinar series on April 18th, with a two-hour overview of the top cases from the previous 12 months. We'll focus on the leading decisions affecting student conduct, due process, Title IX, ADA/504, behavioral intervention, and free speech. This webinar will be presented by the four TNG partners,
W. Scott Lewis, J.D.,
Saundra K. Schuster, J.D.,
Brett A. Sokolow, J.D., and
Daniel C. Swinton, J.D., Ed.D.
Following on the introductory webinar, TNG will host a series of four, hour-long webinars approximately every two weeks that take a deeper dive into the cases than we could cover in the initial two-hour webinar. These webinars will be topical. Times, dates, topics, and presenters for each of the four are listed below:
- BIT-related Case Law: Thursday, May 2 from 2-3pm EDT, presented by W. Scott Lewis, J.D. and Daniel C. Swinton, J.D., Ed.D.
- Title IX Case Law: Thursday, May 16 from 2-3pm EDT, presented by Anna Oppenheim, J.D. and Joe Vincent, M.L.S.
- First Amendment Case Law: Wednesday, May 29 from 12-1pm EDT, presented by Saundra K. Schuster, J.D. and Kim Pacelli, M.Ed., J.D.
- ADA/504 Case Law: Tuesday, June 18 from 3-4pm EDT, presented by Saundra K. Schuster, J.D. and Tanyka M. Barber, J.D.
Recordings will be made available for purchase following each date for those unable to join the live events. Click
here to register.
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Member Library New Resources
Sign in to view
the list
of new resources available in the ATIXA Member Resource Library this week.
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Training Opportunities Near You
ATIXA Civil Rights Investigator Training & Certification Course Level One
ATIXA Civil Rights Investigator Training & Certification Course Level Two
ATIXA Sexual Harassment Case Processing & Resolution: Civil Rights Investigator Training & Certification Course Level Three
ATIXA Title IX Due Process: Civil Rights Investigator Training Course Level Four
PreK-12 Title IX Administrator Training & Certification Course
Title IX Compliance & Athletics Training & Certification Course
Title IX Hearing Officer Training & Certification Course
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Visit the ATIXA Job Board for a complete list of current employment opportunities.
New this Week
Submit your open position to ATIXA, free of charge. Please send all relevant information, including a link to the job post, to
info@atixa.org.
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For a complete listing of products and services from ATIXA, view the
2019 Catalog
.
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An Interdisciplinary Resource For News, Legal Developments, Commentary, and Scholarship About Title IX
By Founders & Contributors Erin Buzuvis, Professor of Law, Western New England University & ATIXA Advisory Board Member and Kristine Newhall, Ph.D., Women's Studies
See all recent Blog Posts
here
.
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