We have recently added eight new resolved Title IX investigations (for a total of 839) and a new section to the OCR Resolutions Database. We will summarize both and provide some additional observations about OCR investigations.

New Resolved Investigations

Interestingly, of the eight recently resolved complaints, five were filed on behalf of male students. Four complained about female-specific scholarships or programs. The three investigations on behalf of female students involved discrimination related to pregnancy, bathroom access, or scholarships that conditioned women’s access to scholarships by race (effectively more a race than a sex complaint but investigated as a Title IX matter nonetheless).

All eight complaints were successful in some form, although the “success” is relative and sometimes minor. For example, consider this resolved investigation into Colorado State University. A professional development opportunity via the HERS Institute was offered to students, but all the language and visuals in promotion materials were oriented toward women. In its resolution of the complaint, OCR allowed the University to keep all the female-oriented language and visuals but required it to add “an explicit statement of non-discrimination on the basis of sex in all future promotional materials regarding professional development opportunities offered through the HERS Institute.”

Over the past twelve years, male complainants have comprised an increasing portion of complainants in resolved investigations. From 2010-2016, 21% of complainants were male. From 2016 to 2020 they increased to 24%, and from 2020 onward they increased further to 27%. We are speaking only of cases in which the sexes were known, however; in 15% of all 829 resolved Title IX investigations since 2010 that we are aware of, the sex of the complainant was redacted, or no specific aggrieved party existed on record.

Recently, OCR has been slow to deliver updates to investigations. We believe this is because it has buried itself beneath a mountain of work. OCR has ~1,900 open investigations for sex discrimination alone, another ~1,600 for race, and ~3,200 disability investigations. You can find a list of open investigations here. OCR also has staffing issues. Catherine Lhamon stated in July that the office has ~400 investigators currently, and that the caseload “is untenable for our staff, and I am enormously distressed about it.”

OCR is also pushing broader regulations to include gender identity discrimination which will increase its workload further. It is also processing over 240,000 public comments submitted regarding that regulation.

“Additional Resources” Section Added to OCR Resolutions Database

Upon logging in to the OCR Resolutions Database you will see a new menu link:

This new section is primarily geared toward new complainants who are trying to learn more about the process, but also includes some research material that is not readily available elsewhere. It includes the following:

1. OCR case processing manuals, both current and historical versions, with links to summaries of changes between the most recent versions
2. Guides on how to file a sex discrimination complaint
3. An overview of the law
4. A FAQ regarding the complaint process
5. OCR case processing standards
6. OCR’s annual reports to the President and the Secretary of Education

While the OCR website also provides some of these resources, their navigation system is poor, they tend to scrub resources from time to time, and we have found instances where OCR provides what seems like a complete list of documents, but several documents are missing. For example, we have noticed several gaps in its historical Case Processing Manual list.

We believe having these in a central location will be beneficial, especially when comparing these documents to investigation files found elsewhere in the database. We are also interested in expanding this section further.

Coming Up

Before the end of the year, we will release an upgrade to our Title IX Lawsuits Database, a roadmap for planned future developments, and potentially a new database resource. Please look for more communication on these in the coming weeks.