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Office for Equal Opportunity Division of Inclusive Excellence

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New Federal Title IX Regulations

The U.S. Department of Education published new regulations related to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Federal Regulations). The Federal Regulations include key changes to provisions addressing scope, questioning at live hearings, review of evidence, appeals, and training, among others. All educational institutions which receive federal funding, including CSU Sacramento (Sacramento State) and the other 22 California State University (CSU) campuses, were required to comply with these regulations effective August 14, 2020, or risk loss of federal funding.

When these new changes were implemented, the Chancellor’s Office immediately issued Addendum B: Federal Mandated Hearing Addendum, which accompanied then effective policies CSU Executive Orders 1096 and 1097, and which outlined the policy and procedures required under the Title IX Federal Regulations.

Effective January 1, 2022, Executive Orders 1096 and 1097 (including the Addendums) were superseded by the new Interim Policy Prohibiting Discrimination, Harassment, Sexual Misconduct, Sexual Exploitation, Dating Violence, Domestic Violence, Stalking, and Retaliation. Any new reports filed with Sacramento State on or after January 1, 2022 will be assessed under the new Interim policy. You may see on this site references to earlier policy versions, some of which continue to be assessed depending on the date of the alleged conduct. Sacramento State’s consistent practice upon receiving a new report is to use the procedure in place at the time the report is received but the policy definition for prohibited conduct that was effective at the time the alleged conduct occurred

The U.S. Department of Education acknowledges that Sacramento State and other universities may address misconduct through their policies and through state law, and Sacramento State is firmly committed to responding to and addressing sexual harassment and sexual misconduct that affects the CSU community. In the case of California law and CSU policy, policies are more expansive than the conduct prohibited by the Federal Regulations.

The Changes

All complaints submitted to the Office for Equal Opportunity will be assessed under the CSU Policy Prohibiting Discrimination, Harassment, Sexual Misconduct, Sexual Exploitation, Dating Violence, Domestic Violence, Stalking, and Retaliation. If an investigation is warranted, OEO will determine which of the three current “Tracks” specified in the policy applies depending on a variety of factors such as the location of the alleged incident(s), the date of the alleged incident(s), the nature of the alleged incident(s), and the complainant’s wishes.

A Note Regarding Interim Policy Track 1 – Federal Mandated Hearing Process

  • Track 1 of the Interim Policy, which applies the Federal Regulations, will involve live hearings with mandatory Hearing Advisors who will conduct the cross-examination of the Parties. The hearing will be facilitated by a Hearing Officer, who will monitor decorum and assess the appropriateness of the questions. The CSU will provide trained Hearing Advisors if either complainant or respondent do not have one available.

Any inquiries can be directed to equalopportunity@csus.edu.

What has NOT changed

Sacramento State remains committed to supporting a safe and equitable campus environment as we move forward with these new regulations issued by the federal government. The Office for Equal Opportunity will continue to work and collaborate to provide supportive measures and other services in our processes for our campus community.

  • Employees still have a duty to report potential incidents of sexual misconduct, sexual harassment, sexual exploitation, dating and domestic violence and stalking to the Office for Equal Opportunity, unless they are specifically exempt under CSU policy.
  • Regardless of which process, or whether a case meets criteria for an investigation, the Office for Equal Opportunity team will continue providing supportive measures and other services, conduct intakes relating to reports and complaints of sex- and gender-based misconduct, and coordinate with other campus offices on issues of discrimination, harassment (including sexual harassment), sexual misconduct, sexual exploitation, dating/domestic violence, stalking, and discrimination/harassment based retaliation.
  • All current active investigations as well as intakes regarding alleged incidents that were reporter prior to January 1, 2022, will still go through the applicable process in place at the time.