Title IX Archives - Fraternal Law

University of Cincinnati Sued by Title IX Respondent

Abby Napier,[1] Fraternal Law Partners, abby.napier@manleyburke.com The University of Cincinnati (the “University”) has been named as a defendant in a lawsuit alleging inadequacies in its Title IX investigation procedures. John Noakes (an alias), a student at the University, was...

Last Straw in Las Cruces: New Mexico State University Releases Men’s Basketball Head Coach Amidst Hazing Allegations

Haellie Gordon, [1] Fraternal Law Partners, hgordon@manleyburke.com On Tuesday, February 14, 2023, New Mexico State University (“NMSU”) fired its first-year men’s basketball head coach, Greg Heiar, and suspended the remainder of the team’s 2023 season.[1] This decision came as...

New Suit Alleging Procedural Deficincies Filed Against USC

Ilana Linder, Fraternal Law Partners, Ilana.Linder@manleyburke.com On January 4, 2023, an unidentified Petitioner, who was the former president of his fraternity at the University of Southern California (“USC” or the “University”), filed a Petition for Writ of Administrative Mandate (“Petition”)...

“We’ve Got You Covered” – Qualified Immunity Provides Protection to University’s Title IX Investigators

Haellie Gordon, [1] Fraternal Law Partners, hgordon@manleyburke.com On December 22, 2022, the Kentucky Court of Appeals reaffirmed the protection of university employees and officers performing investigations of misconduct, such as Title IX investigations, under qualified immunity.[1] Loandrea Dahmer was a...

Kentucky Passes Campus Due Process Protection Act

Jacob W. Purcell, Fraternal Law Partners, jacob.purcell @manleyburke.com Gracie Woodyard,1 Fraternal Law Partners, gracie.woodyard@manleyburke.com On April 8, 2022, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear signed the Kentucky Campus Due Process Protection Act2(the “Act”) into law. The Act provides Kentucky students and registered...

Third Circuit Finds University Owed Student Title IX Protection Against Non-Student Offender

Haellie Gordon, [1] Fraternal Law Partners, hgordon@manleyburke.com [1] Haellie Gordon is a law clerk at Manley Burke and is a first-year law student at the University of Cincinnati. Back in March 2017, David Westol wrote about a Title IX...

Biden Administration Issues Q and A and Responds to Court Decision on Title IX Regulations that May Predict New Regulations

Tim Burke, Fraternal Law Partners, tburke@manleyburke.com Clearly, addressing the issue of sexual assault on campus remains a priority of the Biden administration. CNN reported that on Thursday, July 28, President Biden spoke to a “Summit” sponsored by Its On Us,...

DeVos’ Rules on Title IX Sexual Assault Investigations Will Be Reviewed

Tim Burke, Fraternal Law Partners, tburke@manleyburke.com On March 2, the day that Miguel Cardona was sworn in as the new Secretary of the United States Department of Education, he received a letter signed by more than one hundred members of...

Last-Minute Department of Education Memo Says Title IX Does Not Protect LGBTQ Community

Micah Kamrass, Fraternal Law Partners, mkamrass@manleyburke.com On January 8, 2021, less than two weeks before the change in presidential administrations, and one day following the resignation of the Secretary of Education, the U.S. Department of Education issued a memorandum stating...

Gruver Lawsuit Against LSU May Finally go to Trial

Tim Burke, Fraternal Law Partners, tburke@manleyburke.com Max Gruver died as a result of hazing fueled by alcohol poisoning in 2017. But the civil case brought by his parents has yet to even be scheduled for trial. Now it certainly appears...

A New President: What Does It Mean for Fraternities and Sororities?

Micah Kamrass, Fraternal Law Partners, mkamrass@manleyburke.com On January 20, 2021, the Biden/Harris administration will be sworn in. With the change in administrations, some have wondered how this may impact fraternities and sororities. While this can be somewhat difficult to...

A New Supreme Court Justice: What Does It Mean for Sororities and Fraternities?

Micah Kamrass, Fraternal Law Partners, mkamrass@manleyburke.com On October 27, 2020 Amy Coney Barrett became a new Association Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States when she assumed the seat previously held by Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Many...

Bostock Decision and its Impact on Title IX

Micah Kamrass, Fraternal Law Partners, mkamrass@manleyburke.com On June 15, 2020 the Supreme Court of the United States decided an employment law case captioned Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia.[1]Ultimately, the Court held that Title VII’s prohibition on discrimination on the basis...

Following Defeats in Court, Harvard Abandons Its Anti-Fraternity and Sorority Policy

Tim Burke, Fraternal Law Partners, tburke@fraternallaw.com Harvard, perhaps the most prestigious and powerful university in the country, has apparently given up its fight to punish its students who elect to join off-campus single sex organizations. Facing litigation in both...

Lawsuit Over Max Gruver’s Death Will Continue Against LSU

Tim Burke, Fraternal Law Partners, tburke@fraternallaw.com The civil lawsuit filed by the family of Max Gruvercontinues on. Gruver died in a hazing incident in the Phi Delta Theta house at Louisiana State University (LSU). Among other defendants, the Gruver family...

New Title IX Regulations: What Do They Mean for Greek Life?

Micah Kamrass, Fraternal Law Partners, mkamrass@fraternallaw.com On May 6, 2020, the United States Department of Education announced the much-anticipated new Title IX Regulations, which become effective on August 14, 2020. These regulations apply to all schools, public and private, that...

Federal Court Dismisses Attack on Single-Sex Membership of Fraternities at Yale

Clark Brown, General Counsel, North American Interfraternity Conference In 2018, several female Yale undergraduates, all members of a student group named Engender, brought claims for discrimination in a place of public accommodation in the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and...

Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Issues Ruling in Purdue Title IX Case

Timothy M. Burke, Manley Burke LPA, tburke@manleyburke.com The Seventh Circuit United States Court of Appeals issued a decision on June 28, 2019, that closely considered the issue of due process rights in state college disciplinary proceedings. The court also considered...

Title IX Due Process Applies to Private Schools

Timothy M. Burke, Manley Burke LPA, tburke@manleyburke.com As is too often the case in issues of sexual assault, the facts in the following matter are clouded by alcohol and drug consumption. In Federal Court in Memphis, John Doe challenged Rhodes...

Courts Continue To Struggle To Define Due Process In The Student Disciplinary Process

Timothy M. Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com Attempts by courts to define what due process is appropriate in a student disciplinary proceeding remain far from producing unanimity of results. The United States First Circuit Court of Appeals in August acknowledged its...

Major Early Victory for Greek Organizations in Federal Suit Against Harvard

Sean Callan, Manley Burke, sean.callan@manleyburke.com We all know Harvard cannot abide fraternities or men’s finals clubs. That distaste, seemingly rooted in a patriarchal notion that the administration knows “what’s best” for Harvard students, has been on display for years. That...

LSU loses motion to dismiss the Gruver Estate’s Title IX Claims

Micah Kamrass, Manley Burke, mkamrass@manleyburke.com On July 19, 2019, Chief Judge Shelly Dick of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana issued a decision that could have sweeping implications for fraternities and sororities. As part of...

Important Title IX Decision Involves Unnamed Fraternity Parties

Tim Burke, Manley Burke LPA, tburke@manleyburke.com The U.S. Court of Appeals has affirmed the denial of Kansas State University’s Motions to Dismiss in a consolidated case that will likely have a lasting impact in how colleges and universities handle claims...

Update: Harvard Files Answers to Lawsuits

Sean Callan, Manley Burke LPA, sean.callan@manleyburke.com On February 8, 2019, Harvard College filed motions to dismiss two lawsuits against it, one in Massachusetts state court (“State Motion”) and the other in the United State District Court for the District of...

Two Lawsuits Filed Against Harvard

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com On December 3, 2018, two separate lawsuits, one in federal court and one in state court, were filed against Harvard by several Fraternities and Sororities. The suits challenge Harvard’s controversial decision to penalize students who...

Were Single Sex Fraternities Bullied Off Campus at UMW?

Susan C. Stone & Kristina Supler, Student & Athlete Defense/Title IX Practice Group, Kohrman, Jackson & Krantz, LLP, scs@kjk.com & kws@kjk.com College campuses have long been known as incubators for political values. From 1960s sit-ins against the Vietnam War to...

Male Assailants Claim Victimization Against Their Universities

Ilana Linder, Manley Burke, ilinder@manleyburke.com Over the last few years, there has been an increase in the number of lawsuits filed by male students against their universities in which a claim of gender bias in the school’s handling of sexual...

Non-binary Gender in a Binary System

Sean Callan, Manley Burke, sean.callan@manleyburke.com Leaders of Greek letter organizations continue to grapple with the question of what it means to be a single-sex organization. Specifically, what does “single-sex” mean in a world in which people identify and express themselves...

Two Cases Highlight The Courts' Difficulty Resolving Due Process Challenges

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com Two recent court decisions, both involving the University of Cincinnati (UC), demonstrate the challenges, even the courts are having in attempting to balance the important need of addressing sexual assault on campus with the need...

Title IX and Equitable Investigations for the Accused

Amy Hebbeler, Manley Burke, amy.hebbeler@manleyburke.com Both the complainant and the accused deserves an equitable investigation. In regards to Title IX, it is rare that an investigation is prompted by the accused and more importantly, the accused is almost never successful....

Elections Have Consequences for Fraternal Law Too

Micah Kamrass, Manley Burke, mkmrass@manleyburke.com Like all other fields of law, fraternal law is highly dependent on our government decision makers. Congress passes laws, which are then enforced by the President and the Presidential appointees in the Executive Branch. Ultimately,...

Harvard Ignores Title IX Exemption

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com Harvard University’s final report of its Task Force on the Prevention of Sexual Assault, March 7, 2016, begins “Sexual Assault exacts a profoundly negative personal and academic toll on those students who experience it.” Who...

But the University of North Carolina is Not

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com At lightning speed for a legislative body, North Carolina’s legislature, in a one-day special session, adopted a state law (HB2) prohibiting transgender individuals from using any bathroom other than the one that conforms to their...

Federal Suit Filed Against MSU and Kappa Sigma

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com The Michigan State University Board of Trustees, two university officials, and Kappa Sigma Fraternity, face a federal court lawsuit.1 Four female students from Michigan State claim the University failed to appropriately investigate and respond to...

Religious Freedom or Religious Discrimination

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com The adoption of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act by the State Legislature of Indiana and its signing by Governor Mike Pence has generated substantial controversy among the higher education community and the fraternity world. The...

The Rights of Accused Students

Michael Allen & Joshua Adam Engel The national controversy about the responses of colleges and universities to sexual assaults on campuses continues to grow. After years of criticism for being too lax on campus sexual assault, on April 11, 2011,...

A View From the Ground

Kate Lawson, Xavier University Title IX Coordinator Prior to becoming Xavier University’s Title IX Coordinator, I represented victims of sexual violence as they participated in university complaint resolution processes, worked with their universities to address their safety, housing, and academic...

A Note Regarding "Implementing a Transgender Membership Policy"

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com The article by Stevie Tran and Nathan Arrowsmith offers a valuable perspective on the transgender issue. While it accurately reflects the fact that this is a rapidly developing area of the law, there remains substantial...

Transgender Membership and Title IX

Stevie Tran Many fraternal organizations have encountered the situation where a chapter wishes to extend membership to a transgender student. Others have had alumni who notified the national organization of a legal gender change. What should an organization do? And...

"Dear Colleague" Letter Creates Controversy

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com Some studies project that as many as 25% of female college students are victims of inappropriate sexual contact during their student years. Sexual assault can of course happen to a male, but the victim is...

GENDER THEN AND GENDER NOW: WHAT HAPPENS IF

David Westol It is not a topic that is often discussed at conferences or interfraternal gatherings. Yet, most chief executive officers and executive directors of men’s national fraternities have encountered the situation in which an alumnus has written a letter...

Update on AEPi’s Case Against CSI

Oral argument is set for March 1, 2006 in AEPi’s case against City University of New York College of Staten Island (“CSI”). As previously reported here, at issue is whether CSI can legally require all recognized student organizations to accept...

RELATIONSHIP STATEMENTS ARKANSAS STYLE -- NO WOMEN NEEDED

Timothy M. Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com Relationship statements or expectation documents developed by universities are frequently a mixed bag. Many of the standards these documents seek to implement are in and of themselves innocuous and do not necessarily place major...

UNPOPULAR STUDENT GROUP PREVAILS IN ALABAMA

Robert E. Manley, Manley & Burke The Student Government Association of Auburn University voted to deny the Auburn Gay and Lesbian Association permanent status as an officially recognized campus organization in the fall of 1991. From this decision flowed a...

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