ED Issues Delay on Title IX Rulemaking – so what does this mean?

On Friday, the Department of Education issued a blog post that updates the calendar on the issuance of new Title IX regulations. The release of the regulations is now set for October, which likely foreshadows a December or January implementation of a new System Regulation 08.01.01. The blog posting from ED is included at the end of this post.

For our system members, the downside of this delay is that we will have to live with the current regulations for an additional semester. It also means that some of our most important training programs (hearing panel/officer training, appellate training, advisors, violence and threat assessment, advocate training) will be forced into a narrow implementation window from October until (maybe) the first two weeks of January. The hearing panel/officer training program, which is an in-person training program, will now have to be adapted to allow members to opt out of traveling to us, provided they can guarantee that attendees will all be in a shared space throughout the online presentation and complete all of the small group activities and role plays. More information will come when we begin planning this.

The delay also raises two other issues. First, what is to be done about training (under the current regulation) for those who have been awaiting training? My answer to this is going to be both nuanced and unsatisfying. I sincerely doubt that we will have the capacity to conduct the delayed training programs in the fall under the current regulation, given the academic calendar,  as well as the fiscal and mental bandwidth resources that will be required to conduct what will essentially be a duplicative effort. Thus, with respect to training, anyone waiting for advanced (or refresher) training is asked to remain patient, as this cannot be a primary focus in the fall semester. For those who have people requiring basic training, this will be our area of emphasis in the fall. I anticipate being able to meet member training needs in two ways. The first will be to conduct visits for training programs – particularly for hearing panels, hearing officers, and appellate officers. We already have a hearing panel training scheduled for September in Corpus Christi, and an as of yet uncalendared training for the appellate panel at Texas A&M University. Other training visits will be added as needed, but I ask that you do not request such training at this time. I will be sending out a survey to examine our training needs for the fall across the system. I am on vacation until June 5, so please expect the survey to come out by no later than the week of June 12. Next, we will also consider online training supplements for advisor and designated administrator training, as well as other training needs. Member needs for these programs will be included in the forthcoming training survey.

The second major issue raised by the delay is what the status of the proposed new System Regulation 08.01.01 is. As you likely know, we are currently moving into our sixth version of a proposed System Regulation 08.01.01. Because of the significant delay, I will move forward with at least one more draft of the document during June and July, giving our civil rights officers (as well as OGC and SECO) another opportunity to conduct a deep review of the proposed language. This sixth draft would then serve as the basis for edits once the final regulations are released by the U.S. Department of Education in the fall, and it is a seventh draft that would then be submitted for review and approval.

Finally, one last implication for the delay is a positive one; I will now be moving forward with a reconstitution of the effort to write a shared Code of Student Conduct across the A&M System. We have embarked on this effort before to be thrown off-track by Covid and then by the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, so this really is a positive for us in that we will be drafting language for a shared code while still also working on the final language for civil rights, which means the documents may well be able to influence one another during this process. A proposed timeline for this effort will be sent out by the end of June.

For anyone who is frustrated by this delay, please understand that those of us in SECO really do feel your pain. We have been working tirelessly on the regulation, related documents, a new website, resources for civil rights officers, and on training materials for months now, only to have our timeline upended. It is what it is. We plan to take advantage of this opportunity to make sure that we propose the best possible 08.01.01 to the Chancellor, to make sure that we have high quality training programs, and to provide civil rights officers with all of the tools necessary to conduct their work. We will choose to take this lemon and make some lemonade, develop even more resources, and now forge ahead with student conduct codes as well. Those of us in SECO appreciate your assistance and support throughout this process, your many hours of reviewing drafts and responding to our questions, and we genuinely believe that we far better positioned to hit the ground running when the new regulations come out than most schools and systems around the nation.

As always, please contact me directly with any questions or concerns.

Here is the Department of Education blog post: