Wesley College, in Delaware, violated the gender discrimination law Title IX when it disregarded the due process rights of students accused of sexual misconduct, the U.S. Department of Education announced Wednesday.
The decision is unusual. Over the last five years, the department’s Office for Civil Rights has opened Title IX investigations into nearly 200 institutions where students have accused administrators of mishandling their reports of sexual assault and harassment. Very few of those investigations were prompted by accused and disciplined students, and even fewer have concluded with a finding in those students' favor.
"It is the first time that the agency has found Title IX violations in response to a complaint by a disciplined student," said Erin Buzuvis, an expert on Title IX and director of the Center for Gender and Sexuality Studies at Western New England University. "But I'm not particularly surprised by the outcome, in the sense that it is justified by the facts."
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/10/13/us-says-wesley-college-violated-rights-students-punished-over-sexual-misconduct