Filed Under: Sanctions
Are recipients allowed to place holds (for example, on a transcript, registration, or graduation) on a respondent’s account while a formal complaint process is pending, or is such action considered an impermissible sanction prior to a final determination regarding responsibility?
The Title IX regulations prohibit a recipient from imposing “any disciplinary sanctions or other actions that are not supportive measures as defined in 34 C.F.R. § 106.30, against a respondent” without following the 34 C.F.R. § 106.45 grievance process. 34 C.F.R. §§106.44(a), 106.45(b)(1)(i). Even a temporary “hold” on a transcript, registration, or graduation will generally be considered to be disciplinary, punitive, and/or unreasonably burdensome, and appropriate supportive measures cannot be disciplinary, punitive, or unreasonably burdensome. In the Preamble to the regulations at, e.g., 30182, the Department stated: “Removal from sports teams (and similar exclusions from school-related activities) also require a fact-specific analysis, but whether the burden is ‘unreasonable’ does not depend on whether the respondent still has access to academic programs; whether a supportive measure meets the § 106.30(a) definition also includes analyzing whether a respondent’s access to the array of educational opportunities and benefits offered by the recipient is unreasonably burdened. Changing a class schedule, for example, may more often be deemed an 10 acceptable, reasonable burden than restricting a respondent from participating on a sports team, holding a student government position, participating in an extracurricular activity, and so forth.”