On September 22, 2017, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and Acting\u00a0Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Candice Jackson, rescinded two U.S.\u00a0Department of Education guidance documents on schools\u2019 responsibilities\u00a0under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (\u201cTitle IX\u201d): the April\u00a02011 Dear Colleague Letter (\u201c2011 DCL\u201d), and the April 2014 Questions\u00a0and Answers on Title IX and Sexual Violence (\u201c2014 Q&A\u201d). The 2011 and\u00a02014 guidance documents outlined school responsibilities under Title IX\u00a0when addressing student-on-student sexual harassment and sexual violence.\u00a0The guidance documents, once rescinded, were replaced with interim guidance,\u00a0known as the September 2017 Q&A on Campus Sexual Misconduct.<\/p>\n
These guidance documents impact how a student interacts with the adjudication\u00a0process on a college campus when filing a Title IX complaint. A\u00a0school\u2019s complaint procedure can have the ability to provide or impede a student\u2019s\u00a0equal access to education. Therefore, the implications of rescission\u00a0impact various student populations who may face barriers throughout the process\u00a0of filing a Title IX complaint, especially undocumented students and the\u00a0larger documented immigrant community.<\/p>\n
Guidance documents from a federal agency are typically formalized\u00a0through a rulemaking process, and are not laws, though the guidance documents\u00a0often intersect with, and cite a wide range of laws and cases.\u00a0Guidance documents from the Department of Education Office for Civil\u00a0Rights inform institutions of higher education about their requirements to be\u00a0in compliance with federal civil rights laws. This article will offer an overview\u00a0of the relevant civil rights laws, cases and Dear Colleague Letters as\u00a0they pertain to the potential implications of DeVos and Jackson\u2019s decision on\u00a0undocumented and immigrant students. It will also explore the known impact\u00a0of the 2011 DCL and 2014 Q&A being rescinded, and highlight the many\u00a0unknown questions raised by this recent action as it pertains to the unique situation\u00a0for documented and undocumented immigrant students regarding their\u00a0Title IX rights.<\/p>\n