Today the Department of Education released new regulations that govern how colleges and universities respond to gender-based misconduct complaints under Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education.
We are reviewing the regulations carefully and will revise Columbia’s policies as needed and in keeping with our strong commitment to addressing, investigating and adjudicating gender-based misconduct reports fairly and with sensitivity to the issues, and the people involved. As always, we welcome comments and suggestions from all Columbia community members.
Our existing Gender-Based Misconduct Policy and Procedures for Students will remain in effect for the rest of this academic year. The new regulations require schools to implement changes by August 14, 2020.
An earlier version of the new regulations was proposed for public comment in November 2019, prompting approximately 125,000 comments to the Department of Education. Columbia is a member of two national higher education associations that submitted comments on the proposed regulations earlier this year.
Please see Columbia’s Sexual Respect website for more information about our policy, supportive resources and the Sexual Respect and Community Citizenship Initiative.
Suzanne B. Goldberg
Executive Vice President for University Life
Herbert and Doris Wechsler Clinical Professor of Law
