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Latest Cases & Developments
Date:
Court Grants Joint Parties’ Stipulation in Bd. of Trs. of the Cal. State Univ. v. Dep’t of Educ. (Mar. 31, 2026)
The California State University System (CSU) sued the Department of Education challenging its January 2026 determination that San Jose State University (SJSU) violated Title IX when it allowed a transgender athlete to compete on the women’s volleyball team from 2022-2024. After reviewing the joint stipulation from the parties, the court entered an order setting out how the case will be managed going forward. The order stipulates that within two business days of any determination by the Department that it intends to withhold funds or take other action against SJSU or CSU, the parties will provide the court with a proposed briefing and hearing schedule. CSU agrees to maintain existing policies and not treat the stipulation as a concession on the merits. The order protects CSU from immediate enforcement consequences, particularly the risk to federal funding, while allowing the court to later resolve CSU’s claims that the Department’s actions were unlawful, retroactive, and constitutionally impermissible.
Topics:
Athletics & Sports | Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Gender Equity in Athletics | Sex Discrimination | Sexual Misconduct | Students | Title IX & Student Sexual MisconductDate:
Bd. of Trs. of the Cal. State Univ. v. Dep’t of Educ. (N.D. Cal. Mar. 6, 2026)
Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief. Plaintiff, the California State University System, sued the Department of Education challenging its January 2026 determination that San Jose State University (SJSU) violated Title IX when it allowed a transgender athlete to compete on the women’s volleyball team from 2022-24. The complaint alleges that SJSU could not lawfully exclude a transgender athlete under Ninth Circuit precedent, NCAA rules, and federal guidance, and maintains that the Department’s findings improperly attempt to retroactively impose Title IX obligations based on a later policy shift. The complaint further alleges that the proposed resolution agreement violates both the Spending Clause and the First Amendment by conditioning federal funding on the university sending personal apologies to female athletes and agreeing to amend its policies. Plaintiff has asked the court to vacate the Department’s findings and enjoin it from (1) terminating, freezing, blocking, or refusing federal funding to SJSU; and (2) enforcing the proposed resolution agreement.
Topics:
Athletics & Sports | Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Gender Equity in Athletics | Sex Discrimination | Sexual Misconduct | Students | Title IX & Student Sexual MisconductDate:
Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights Initiates 18 Title IX investigations (Jan. 14, 2026)
The Department of Education announced its Office for Civil Rights has initiated 18 Title IX investigations into educational institutions, three of which are institutions of higher education. The Department wrote that the complaints that led to the investigations are based on allegations that the institutions “maintain polices or practices that discriminate on the basis of sex by permitting students to participate in sports based on their ‘gender identity,’ not biological sex.”
Topics:
Athletics & Sports | Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Gender Equity in Athletics | Title IX & Student Sexual MisconductDate:
Pogorzelska v. VanderCook Coll. of Music (N.D. Ill. June 5, 2023)
Memorandum Opinion and Order granting-in-part and denying-in-part Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment. Plaintiff, a former student at VanderCook College of Music, brought Title IX claims against the College, alleging that it exhibited deliberate indifference to her reports of off-campus sexual assault and subsequent on-campus harassment and that it retaliated against her for making the reports. The court permitted plaintiff to proceed on her deliberate indifference claim as to the assault, finding that a jury could conclude from email correspondence and disputed statements in the record that College investigators believed the respondent had committed the assault but unreasonably imposed limited sanctions in hopes of promoting a “healing process.” It also permitted her to proceed on her deliberate indifference claim as to the subsequent harassment, finding triable issues of fact as to (1) whether two incidents constituted harassment and (2) whether the College’s decision not to adjust or further enforce its no-contact order was clearly unreasonable. It granted summary judgment to the College, however, on plaintiff’s retaliation claims, finding insufficient evidence of materially adverse actions that were caused by plaintiff’s reports.
Topics:
Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Faculty & Staff | Retaliation | Sex Discrimination | Sexual Misconduct | Students | Title IX & Student Sexual Misconduct
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