Title IX: Equal Opportunity, Title IX & Student Rights

Title IX & Legal Standards Guide

Federal Overview

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is a federal law that prohibits sex- and gender-based discrimination in any educational institution receiving federal financial assistance. It is enforced by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.

What Title IX Covers:

• Program Equality: Ensures equal opportunity in all college programs, academics, and athletics.
• Sexual Harassment & Assault: Prohibits sexual violence, harassment, and misconduct as forms of illegal sex discrimination.
• Institutional Accountability: Requires COM to appoint a Title IX Coordinator, maintain prompt and impartial grievance procedures, and provide supportive measures.

Sexual misconduct is any non-consensual behavior of a sexual nature committed through force, intimidation, coercion, or unwanted advance.

To violate Title IX policy, the behavior must be sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive that it limits a student’s ability to participate in or benefit from college programs, or prevents an employee from working in a non-discriminatory environment.

In Texas, consent is an informed, voluntary, and affirmative agreement to engage in sexual activity expressed through clear words or actions.

• Active & Affirmative: Must be clearly communicated; silence, passivity, or lack of resistance never equals consent.
• Ongoing: Must be present throughout the entire interaction and can be withdrawn at any time.
• Freely Given: Cannot be obtained using physical force, threats, intimidation, or coercion.
• Incapacity: Consent cannot be given by anyone who is asleep, unconscious, underage, mentally or physically impaired, or incapacitated due to drugs, alcohol, or medication.

Violence Against Women Act (VAWA - 2013)

Improves institutional accountability and enhances victim protections for campus-related incidents involving domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

Campus SaVE Act (Sexual Violence Elimination Act)

An amendment to VAWA that requires colleges to:

1. Report Statistics: Disclose all campus incidents of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking in annual Clery Act reports.
2. Provide Prevention Education: Deliver mandatory awareness programming and training for incoming students and employees.
3. Ensure Fair Procedures: Maintain clear, transparent minimum standards for disciplinary and resolution processes.

Compliance and education programs exist to address critical national campus safety realities:

• 1 in 4 undergraduate women experience an attempted or completed sexual assault (Fisher, 2000).
• 6% of undergraduate men report an attempted or completed sexual assault (CDC, 2013).
• Nearly 2/3 of rapes are committed by someone known to the victim (RAINN, 2013).
• Substance Use: 74% of perpetrators and 55% of victims were intoxicated during the incident (Abbey, 2002).

Key Rights & Support Pathways

• Supportive Measures: Available to involved parties with or without filing a formal complaint (e.g., academic adjustments, schedule changes, mutual no-contact orders, campus escorts).
• Pregnant & Parenting Students: Protections include excused absences for medically necessary reasons, reasonable classroom accommodations, and access to campus lactation spaces.
• Retaliation Prohibition: Retaliation against anyone who reports, serves as a witness, or participates in a Title IX investigation is strictly illegal under college policy and federal law.