Chesterfield County School District

What is Title IX?

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is a federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any educational program or activity that receives federal funding. This means that no person can be excluded from participation, denied benefits, or subjected to discrimination based on sex in federally-funded schools, colleges, or other entities like vocational programs. Federal agencies, including the Department of Education (ED), are required to enforce this mandate. Discrimination covered under Title IX includes, but isn't limited to, sexual harassment, sexual violence, pregnancy discrimination, unequal athletic opportunities, sex-based discrimination in STEM, discriminatory dress codes, and retaliation.

What is Sexual Harassment?

The definition of Sexual Harassment under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is specific and broad, encompassing three main types of conduct based on sex that occurs in an educational program or activity receiving federal funds.

For a school to be required to address it under Title IX regulations, the conduct must fit one of the following three categories:

1. Quid Pro Quo Harassment

This Latin term means "this for that." It occurs when an employee of the school (such as a teacher, professor, or coach) conditions the provision of an aid, benefit, or service of the school on an individual's participation in unwelcome sexual conduct.

• Example: A professor offers a student a better grade, a scholarship, or a job in exchange for sexual favors.

2. Hostile Environment Harassment

This refers to unwelcome conduct that is determined by a reasonable person to be so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access to the school's education program or activity.

• Key Criteria: The conduct must meet all three standards (severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive) to deny equal access to education. It is not enough for the conduct to simply be offensive.

• Examples: Repeated, graphic, and humiliating sexual comments, or the widespread circulation of explicit materials in a way that creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive learning environment for a reasonable person.

3. Specific Federal Offenses

Title IX also explicitly includes the following offenses as forms of sexual harassment:

• Sexual Assault

• Dating Violence

• Domestic Violence

• Stalking

These offenses are defined according to federal laws, specifically the Clery Act and the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).

The school's obligation to respond to Title IX sexual harassment is triggered when it has actual knowledge of conduct that meets this definition and occurred in the school's education program or activity against a person in the United States.