Editing Title IX (section)

=== Lawsuits and activism ===
Title IX has been interpreted as allowing private lawsuits against educational institutions as well as formal complaints submitted to the [[Department of Education]]. In 2006, a federal court found that there was sufficient evidence that the [[University of Colorado]] acted with "deliberate indifference" toward students Lisa Simpson and Anne Gilmore, who were sexually assaulted by student football players. The university settled the case by promising to change its policies and to pay $2.5&nbsp;million in damages.<ref>{{cite web |title=Simpson v. University of Colorado |url=https://www.aclu.org/racial-justice-womens-rights/simpson-v-university-colorado |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130414013426/http://www.aclu.org/racial-justice-womens-rights/simpson-v-university-colorado |archive-date=April 14, 2013 |access-date=May 4, 2013 |publisher=ACLU.org}}</ref> In 2008, [[Arizona State University]] was the subject of a lawsuit that alleged violations of rights guaranteed by Title IX: the university expelled a football player for multiple instances of severe sexual harassment, but readmitted him; he went on to rape a fellow student in her dorm room. Despite its claim that it bore no responsibility, the school settled the lawsuit, agreeing to revise and improve its official response to sexual misconduct and to pay the plaintiff $850,000 in damages and fees.<ref>{{cite web |title=J.K. v. Arizona Board of Regents |url=https://www.aclu.org/womens-rights/jk-v-arizona-board-regents |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130414013422/http://www.aclu.org/womens-rights/jk-v-arizona-board-regents |archive-date=April 14, 2013 |access-date=May 4, 2013 |publisher=ACLU.org}}</ref>

On March 15, 2011, [[Yale]] undergraduate student and alleged sexual violence survivor Alexandra Brodsky filed a Title IX complaint along with fifteen fellow students alleging Yale "has a sexually hostile environment and has failed to adequately respond to sexual harassment concerns."<ref>{{cite news |author=John Christofferson |title=Yale Under Federal Investigation For 'Sexually Hostile Environment' |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/01/yale-title-ix_n_843570.html |work=The Huffington Post |date=April 1, 2011 |access-date=May 4, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130825191009/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/01/yale-title-ix_n_843570.html |archive-date=August 25, 2013 }}</ref>

In October 2012, an [[Amherst College]] student, [[Angie Epifano]], wrote an explicit, personal account of her alleged sexual assault and the ensuing "appalling treatment" she received when coming forward to seek support from the college's administration.<ref name="Epifano">{{cite news|last=Epifano|first=Angie|title=An Account of Sexual Assault at Amherst College|url=http://amherststudent.amherst.edu/?q=article/2012/10/17/account-sexual-assault-amherst-college|access-date=June 23, 2013|newspaper=The Amherst Student|date=October 17, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20121019215229/http://amherststudent.amherst.edu/?q=article%2F2012%2F10%2F17%2Faccount-sexual-assault-amherst-college|archive-date=October 19, 2012}}</ref> In the narrative, Epifano alleged that she was raped by a fellow Amherst student and described how her life was affected by the experience; she stated that the perpetrator harassed her at the only dining hall, that her academic performance was negatively affected, and that, when she sought support, the administration coerced her into taking the blame for her experience and ultimately institutionalized her and pressured her to drop out.<ref>{{cite news|last=Richard|first=Perez-Pena|title=Student's Account Has Rape in Spotlight|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/27/education/amherst-account-of-rape-brings-tension-to-forefront.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0|access-date=June 24, 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=October 26, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130104144332/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/27/education/amherst-account-of-rape-brings-tension-to-forefront.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0|archive-date=January 4, 2013}}</ref>

<blockquote>The fact that such a prestigious institution could have such a noxious interior fills me with intense remorse mixed with sour distaste. I am sickened by the Administration's attempts to cover up survivors' stories, cook their books to discount rapes, pretend that withdrawals never occur, quell attempts at change, and sweep sexual assaults under a rug. When politicians cover up affairs or scandals the masses often rise in angry protestations and call for a more transparent government. What is the difference between a government and the Amherst College campus? Why can't we know what is happening on campus? Why should we be quiet about sexual assault?"<ref name="Epifano"/></blockquote>

When the Amherst case reached national attention, [[Annie E. Clark]] and [[Andrea Pino]], two women who were allegedly sexually assaulted at the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]] connected with Epifano, Brodsky, and [[Yale Law School]] student [[Dana Bolger]] to address the parallel concerns of hostility at their institution, filing Title IX and [[Clery Act]] complaints against the university in January 2013, both leading to investigations by the [[U.S. Department of Education]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Perez-Pena|first=Richard|title=Students Initiate Inquiry Into Harassment Reports|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/08/education/students-initiate-inquiry-into-harassment-reports.html?hpw|access-date=June 24, 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 7, 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130527115019/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/08/education/students-initiate-inquiry-into-harassment-reports.html?hpw|archive-date=May 27, 2013}}</ref>

Following the national prominence of the UNC Chapel Hill case, organizers Pino and Clark went on to coordinate with students at other schools; in 2013, complaints citing violations of Title IX were filed against [[Occidental College]] (on April 18), [[Swarthmore College]] and [[the University of Southern California]] (on May 22).<ref>{{cite news |author=Tyler Kingkade |title=College Sexual Assault Survivors Form Underground Network To Reform Campus Policies |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/21/college-sexual-assault-survivors_n_2918855.html |work=The Huffington Post |date=March 21, 2013 |access-date=May 4, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130508182458/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/21/college-sexual-assault-survivors_n_2918855.html |archive-date=May 8, 2013 }}</ref><ref name="Castellanos">{{cite news |author=Dalina Castellanos |title=Complaints filed against USC, UC Berkeley over rape reporting |url=https://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0523-college-rape-20130523,0,106833.story |date=May 22, 2010 |access-date=May 23, 2013 |work=Los Angeles Times |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523150800/http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0523-college-rape-20130523,0,106833.story |archive-date=May 23, 2013 }}</ref> These complaints, the resulting campaigns against sexual violence on college campuses, and the organizing of Bolger, Brodsky, Clark, Pino and other activists led to the formation of an informal national network of activists.<ref>{{cite news|last=Perez-Pena|first=Richard|title=College Groups Connect to Fight Sexual Assault|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/20/education/activists-at-colleges-network-to-fight-sexual-assault.html?pagewanted=all|access-date=June 24, 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 19, 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130524233543/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/20/education/activists-at-colleges-network-to-fight-sexual-assault.html?pagewanted=all|archive-date=May 24, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Stancill |first=Jane |title=UNC-CH women wage national campaign against sexual assault |url=http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/06/01/2932161/unc-ch-women-wage-national-campaign.html |access-date=June 24, 2013 |newspaper=The News & Observer |date=June 1, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130609020944/http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/06/01/2932161/unc-ch-women-wage-national-campaign.html |archive-date=June 9, 2013 }}</ref> Bolger and Brodsky also started [[Know Your IX]], an organization of student activists focused on legal education and federal and state policy change.