Duke Plans for Implementation of New Title IX Regulations

The start of the new academic year will bring some changes in the way that Duke and other colleges and universities address sexual assault and harassment as a result of a revision of Title IX, the law that prohibits sex discrimination at institutions that receive federal funding.

The coming changes are in response to recently released and long-awaited final regulations from the U.S. Department of Education, which took several years to write and will be implemented in August.

While the new regulations will lead to modifications in some aspects of Duke’s conduct process they will only apply to a subset of all sexual misconduct matters and “the university remains committed to being a place where every member of the Duke community can learn, teach, study and work free from sexual misconduct and sexual harassment,” said Kimberly D. Hewitt, Vice President for Institutional Equity.

A working group of students, staff and faculty have been meeting regularly since the federal regulations were released in order to develop the implementation plan.  The new university policies and procedures will be made available for review before the Aug. 14 deadline for implementation.

“We are most focused on ensuring that our continued commitment to addressing and preventing sexual misconduct on campus aligns with Duke’s values and the need to comply with the new regulations,” Hewitt said.  “While the timeline is challenging, we will be launching new efforts to educate and with our stakeholders about the ways in which the regulations will impact the response to sexual misconduct at Duke.”

The American Council on Education (ACE) has provided a detailed compilation of resources on the new Title IX regulations including the full text and recaps put out by the Department of Education, as well as a presentation on key insights and changes. Those full resources can be found here