Dive Brief:
- Catherine E. Lhamon, the U.S. Department of Education’s assistant secretary for civil rights, defended guidance to colleges about their responsibilities under Title IX following criticism from Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), chairman of the subcommittee on regulatory affairs and federal management.
- The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that Lhamon’s letter, a response to one from Lankford to Acting Secretary of Education John B. King, sets the stage for a clash between the agency and the Senate over the limits to the department’s powers.
- In response to Lankford’s accusation of overreach, Lhamon argued the department’s guidance does not have the force of law and is meant to offer advice on existing regulations — and she points out the Supreme Court has “repeatedly confirmed” the responsibilities the department outlines as falling under Title IX.
Dive Insight:
Since the Department of Education’s 2010 Dear Colleague letter about sexual harassment and 2011 letter about sexual violence, the number of complaints filed with the Office of Civil Rights has skyrocketed, creating a bottleneck for processing time that has allowed the office’s active caseload to balloon to more than 200 sexual violence cases. While the office claims to attempt to resolve complaints within six months, several cases have been active for multiple years and the average time to resolution is 15 months.
If Republicans are planning a more concerted opposition to the Title IX guidance in the Senate, they could orchestrate a change in the way college campuses must handle sexual assault complaints on their own campuses. Title IX, as the department’s critics point out, does not mention sexual assault at all.