January 30, 2019

The proposed Title IX regulations

As many of you know, the U.S. Department of Education proposed new regulations late last year for how colleges and universities manage Title IX cases. The department has been holding a public comment period that is now closing.

At Stanford, we have been reviewing these proposed regulations in detail. Our focus has been on how the regulations would affect our support for students – both complainants and respondents in Title IX cases – and ensure a fair and effective Title IX process.

As we’ve reviewed the proposed regulations, we have conferred with students to understand their perspectives. Our Office of Institutional Equity and Access produced an analysis that was shared with the ASSU. Students and faculty members have submitted comments as part of the process, and I deeply appreciate the time and attention they have given to this important issue.

As an institution, we have felt that our input would have the most impact when pooled with that of other universities. To that end, we have worked closely with two national associations to which we belong – the Association of American Universities (AAU) and the American Council on Education (ACE). We have participated actively in providing input to each.

These organizations have now submitted their comments to the federal government. You can find the AAU and ACE comments here and here, respectively. As with all letters representing many voices, these two sets of comments are an amalgamation of many views. But we support both letters and believe they appropriately highlight the most significant issues in the proposed regulations.

We will now await a final rule from the federal government. We do not have a timeline, nor any certainty about the outcome. But we will stay in touch with you as we learn more. Stanford will not make any process changes to address the new regulations until a final rule is published and takes effect, a process that may take many months.

Whatever changes in federal regulation come to us, we will continue working to foster policies and programs that provide for a safe campus community, along with fair processes in which everyone can have confidence and trust.