Much in the news of late, investigations of sexual misconduct by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights’ (OCR) generally result in Title IX resolution agreements and letters of findings against colleges and universities. What has not been discussed are questions surrounding the scope of OCR’s legal authority. The short article Behind the Scenes: A Closer Look at OCR’s Enforcement Authority questions the statutory and regulatory basis for several of OCR’s often-used remedial terms such as the payment of counseling expenses, requirement of annual campus climate surveys, and the prohibition of students serving on sexual misconduct hearing panels.
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