Due Process Demands as Propaganda: The Rhetoric of Title IX Opposition

Abstract

How universities should deal with campus sexual assault is thorny and divisive, perhaps more so than any other current topic in the academy. Title IX is at the center of the debate on this issue, particularly following the issuance of the "Dear Colleague Letter" ("DCL") by the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights ("OCR") in 2011.1 The DCL made it clear that sexual assault and harassment are a form of sex discrimination proscribed by Title IX and outlined some necessary features of the adjudication of these issues. Beyond its formal requirements, the DCL made clear that OCR was going to dedicate more attention to the issue.