On April 19, 2024, the Department of Education released its final Title IX Rule to go into effect on August 1, 2024. The Rule offers protection against sex-based discrimination and adopted the current Equal Employment Opportunity Commission definition of sexual harassment, which defines sexual harassment as behavior that is severe or frequent and offensive per the reasonable person standard. Per the Department of Education’s 2024 Title IX Final Rule Overview, “The final regulations will help to ensure that all persons, including students and employees, receive appropriate support if they experience sex discrimination in schools and that schools’ procedures for investigating and resolving complaints of sex discrimination are accurate and fair to all involved. The final regulations strengthen several major provisions from the current regulations and provide schools with information to meet their Title IX obligations while providing appropriate discretion and flexibility to account for variations in school size, student populations, and administrative structures. The final regulations also provide greater clarity regarding the definition of ‘sex-based harassment;’ the scope of sex discrimination, including schools’ obligations not to discriminate based on sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity; and schools’ obligations to provide an educational environment free from discrimination based on sex.”

Some national groups have asserted that provisions of the 2024 Final Rule were unlawful. The federal Fifth Circuit Court imposed an injunction against the Department of Education, precluding the Department from enforcing the 2024 Title IX Rule in four states and at numerous institutions of higher education, including CSN. 

Until the injunction is lifted, CSN will operate under the current 2020 Title IX Rule as represented in the current version of the Handbook. In anticipation that the injunction will be lifted, CSN is prepared to apply the new rule to protect all employees, students, and visitors from sex-based discrimination, and NSHE is in the process of rewriting the Board of Regents’ Handbook, Title 4, Chapter 8, Section 14 to reflect the 2024 Rule. We will update you on this as information becomes available. 

Regardless of the injunction or which version of Title IX Rule is enforceable, CSN and the OIE will continue to comply with state and federal law and make it easier for everyone on campus to do so. To ensure compliance with the law, we ask for your help in performing the following. 

• If any employee of the College should become aware of potential sex-based discrimination, including sexual harassment of any kind, please notify me, Armen Asherian at x7481 or Armen.Asherian@csn.edu, Leslie Miller at x5562 or Leslie.Miller@csn.edu, and Ryan Evans at x7720 or Ryan.Evans@csn.edu. If you are serving in a legally recognized role holding confidentiality, please inform individuals who report such discrimination or harassment to you that should they choose, they may still report the discrimination or harassment to the OIE.
• If an individual requests confidentiality to share with you an experience they had, inform them that you can only promise privacy and not confidentiality based upon what they have to share. If they are about to share something about being discriminated against because of their membership in a legally protected class or being sexually harassed, you have an obligation to share that with the OIE.
• If you are a supervisor and an employee shares with you that they have a disability, a medical condition, or pregnancy-related condition, do not inquire about it and do not share anything you learn about that employee’s condition with others. Refer the individual to Kathy Eghoian at x7457 or kathryn.eghoian@csn.edu.
• If a student shares they have a disability, a medical condition, or pregnancy-related condition, do not inquire about it and do not share anything you learn about that student’s condition with others. Refer the student to the DRC. The DRC will work with ALL pregnant students and their instructors to manage the appropriate accommodation associated with this individual’s pregnancy. The process is highly individualized and nuanced and may require continual modifications. Therefore, to ensure lawful compliance, it is best to have one unit, the DRC, provide these services in a standardized manner.
• Remember, the legal concept of pregnancy covered by antidiscrimination laws goes beyond being pregnant. For example, it includes false pregnancy, childbirth, termination of a pregnancy, miscarriage, recovery, postpartum issues, fostering a new child, infant health issues, breast milk pumping, etc.
• Please review the Consensual Relations Policy effective July 13, 2021 (https://www.csn.edu/sites/default/files/pdf_file/0026/107792/Consensual-Relationships-Policy.pdf). It prohibits consensual relationships (defined as romantic and/or sexual relationships willingly engaged in by both parties) or exploitative relationships (defined as a relationship where one party takes advantage of another using the imbalance of power to benefit from a person’s vulnerabilities) between individuals or others in positions of authority over students or coworkers whenever those relationships have the potential to interfere with an individual’s right or ability to pursue academic, training, research, or professional interests.
• Lastly, if you receive instructions to provide accommodation from Human Resources, the DRC, or the OIE, do not ask the individual questions about it. Instead, be faithful to those instructions and direct any questions to the office that issued the accommodation(s).
• Please contact the OIE if you have any questions. On April 19, 2024, the Department of Education released its final Title IX Rule to go into effect on August 1, 2024. The Rule offers protection against sex-based discrimination and adopted the current Equal Employment Opportunity Commission definition of sexual harassment, which defines sexual harassment as behavior that is severe or frequent and offensive per the reasonable person standard. Per the Department of Education’s 2024 Title IX Final Rule Overview, “The final regulations will help to ensure that all persons, including students and employees, receive appropriate support if they experience sex discrimination in schools and that schools’ procedures for investigating and resolving complaints of sex discrimination are accurate and fair to all involved. The final regulations strengthen several major provisions from the current regulations and provide schools with information to meet their Title IX obligations while providing appropriate discretion and flexibility to account for variations in school size, student populations, and administrative structures. The final regulations also provide greater clarity regarding the definition of ‘sex-based harassment;’ the scope of sex discrimination, including schools’ obligations not to discriminate based on sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity; and schools’ obligations to provide an educational environment free from discrimination based on sex.”