Title IX Compliance in California Universities

• In Event: Gender, Victimization and Public Policy

Abstract

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits discrimination of the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity. The principal goal of this piece of legislation is “to avoid the use of federal money to support discrimination in education programs and to provide individual citizens effective protection against those practices” (U.S. Department of Justice, 2016). In recent years, however, several universities across the United States have come under federal investigation for Title IX violations that supposedly contribute to the prevalence of campus sexual assault. Available statistics shows that one in five women and one in sixteen men are sexually assaulted in college. This study will review and compare existing policies and programs in a sample of California universities and determine whether they sufficiently comply with federal requirements under Title IX. Policy implications and recommendations will also be discussed.

Author

• Jenna M. Cooper, Sonoma State University