Case: Department of Education OCR Title IX Investigation of Butte College

In February 2013, a student at Butte College, part of the Butte-Glenn Community College District, filed a Title IX complaint with U.S. Department of Education, San Francisco Office for Civil Rights (OCR). She alleged that in 2012, a Butte College football player sexually assaulted her. After she reported the assault, the College conducted an investigation and chose not to discipline the respondent. The complainant asserted that the College did not respond to her report in a manner that was prompt and equitable, thus violating Title IX. For instance, she stated that the school gave only the respondent an opportunity to present favorable witnesses and that the College questioned her regarding her sexual history and sexual reputation without subjecting the respondent to similar questioning. In addition, she alleged that the school’s grievance procedure did not comply with Title IX.

In July 2013, OCR announced that it was opening an investigation in response to the complaint. In conducting its investigation, OCR sought to resolve the following five issues:

• whether the College complied with Title IX regarding development and dissemination of notice of nondiscrimination;
• whether the College complied with Title IX requirements regarding the designation and notice of a Title IX coordinator;
• whether the College’s sexual harassment and sexual violence policies and procedures, as written, complied with Title IX;
• whether the College provided a prompt and equitable response to incidents of sexual harassment and sexual violence of which it had notice, including the complainant’s report of sexual violence; and
• whether the College’s failed to provide a prompt and equitable response.

Four years later, in July 2017, OCR published a letter of findings concluding that Butte College failed to comply with Title IX in all the ways it had investigated.

In response to the findings, Butte College entered into a resolution agreement in order to address the deficiencies and violations. Specifically it agreed to:

• Amend its notice of nondiscrimination to include contact information for the Title IX Coordinator and OCR;
• retain a highly-qualified Title IX Coordinator;
• create one unified sexual misconduct policy (as opposed to a separate policy for each sub-category of violation) in a manner compliant with Title IX;
• provide Title IX training to all college employees;
• provide training to all those participating in the sexual misconduct appeals process;
• develop and implement a confidential electronic database to review and examine documents related to sexual misconduct complaints;
• implement mandatory Title IX training for all students;
• develop and implement an annual campus climate survey;
• reimburse the complainant for any undergraduate tuition paid from 2012 to 2014 and all related medical expenses;
• invite the complainant to share her concerns and feedback with the Butte College President; and
• submit to ongoing reporting and monitoring by OCR.

OCR will oversee compliance with the Resolution Agreement until at least July 2020 or when the agency determines that the College has complied with the agreement. Compliance remains ongoing.