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61462 Federal Register / Vol 61462 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 230 / Thursday, November 29, 2018 / Proposed Rules DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION text format. Please do not submit the recipients understand their legal PDF in a scanned format. Using a print- obligations including what conduct is 34 CFR Part 106 to-PDF format allows the U.S. actionable as sexual harassment under [Docket ID ED–2018–OCR–0064] Department of Education (the Title IX, the conditions that activate a Department) to electronically search and mandatory response by the recipient, RIN 1870–AA14 copy certain portions of your and particular requirements that such a submissions. response must meet so that recipients Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex D Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to protect the rights of their students to in Education Programs or Activities www.regulations.gov to submit your access education free from sex Receiving Federal Financial comments electronically. Information discrimination. Assistance on using Regulations.gov, including In addition to providing recipients AGENCY: Office for Civil Rights, instructions for finding a rule on the site with clear legal obligations, the Department of Education. and submitting comments, is available transparency of the proposed ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking. on the site under ‘‘How to use regulations will help empower students Regulations.gov’’ in the Help section. to hold their schools accountable for SUMMARY: The Secretary of Education D Postal Mail, Commercial Delivery, failure to meet those obligations. Under proposes to amend regulations or Hand Delivery: The Department the proposed regulations, complainants implementing Title IX of the Education strongly encourages commenters to reporting sexual harassment will have Amendments of 1972 (Title IX). The submit their comments electronically. If, greater control over the process. The proposed regulations would clarify and however, you mail or deliver your Department recognizes that every modify Title IX regulatory requirements comments about these proposed situation is unique and that individuals pertaining to the availability of remedies regulations, address them to Brittany react to sexual harassment differently; for violations, the effect of Bull, U.S. Department of Education, 400 thus, the proposed regulations help Constitutional protections, the Maryland Avenue SW, Room 6E310, ensure that schools provide designation of a coordinator to address Washington, DC 20202. Telephone: complainants with clear options and sex discrimination issues, the (202) 453–7100. honor the wishes of the reporting dissemination of a nondiscrimination Privacy Note: The Department’s policy is individual about how to respond to the policy, the adoption of grievance to make all comments received from situation, including increased access to procedures, and the process to claim a members of the public available for public supportive measures. Where a reporting religious exemption. The proposed viewing in their entirety on the Federal complainant elects to file a formal regulations would also specify how eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov. complaint triggering the school’s recipient schools and institutions Therefore, commenters should be careful to grievance process, the proposed include in their comments only information covered by Title IX (hereinafter that they wish to make publicly available. regulations require the school’s collectively referred to as recipients or investigation to be fair and impartial, schools) must respond to incidents of FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: applying mandatory procedural checks sexual harassment consistent with Title Brittany Bull, U.S. Department of and balances, thus producing more IX’s prohibition against sex Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, reliable factual outcomes, with the goal discrimination. The proposed Room 6E310, Washington, DC 20202. of encouraging more students to turn to regulations are intended to promote the Telephone: (202) 453–7100. You may their schools for support in the wake of purpose of Title IX by requiring also email your questions to sexual harassment. recipients to address sexual harassment, [email protected], but, as described above, comments must be submitted via Summary of the Major Provisions of assisting and protecting victims of This Regulatory Action sexual harassment and ensuring that the Federal eRulemaking Portal, postal due process protections are in place for mail, commercial delivery, or hand With regard to sexual harassment, the individuals accused of sexual delivery. proposed regulations would: harassment. If you use a telecommunications D Define the conduct constituting device for the deaf (TDD) or a text sexual harassment for Title IX purposes; DATES: We must receive your comments telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay D Specify the conditions that activate on or before January 28, 2019. Service (FRS), toll free, at 1–800–877– a recipient’s obligation to respond to ADDRESSES: Submit your comments 8339. allegations of sexual harassment and through the Federal eRulemaking Portal impose a general standard for the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: or via postal mail, commercial delivery, sufficiency of a recipient’s response; or hand delivery. We will not accept Executive Summary D Specify situations that require a comments by fax or by email, or recipient to initiate its grievance Purpose of This Regulatory Action comments submitted after the comment procedures; and period closes. To ensure that we do not Based on its extensive review of the D Establish procedural safeguards that receive duplicate copies, please submit critical issues addressed in this must be incorporated into a recipient’s your comments only once. Additionally, rulemaking, the Department has grievance procedures to ensure a fair please include the Docket ID at the top determined that current regulations and and reliable factual determination when of your comments. guidance do not provide appropriate a recipient investigates and adjudicates If you are submitting comments standards for how recipients must a sexual harassment complaint. electronically, we strongly encourage respond to incidents of sexual In addition, the proposed regulations you to submit any comments or harassment. To address this concern, we would: Clarify that in responding to any attachments in Microsoft Word format. propose regulations addressing sexual claim of sex discrimination under Title If you must submit a comment in Adobe harassment under Title IX to better align IX, recipients are not required to Portable Document Format (PDF), we the Department’s regulations with the deprive an individual of rights that strongly encourage you to convert the text and purpose of Title IX and would be otherwise guaranteed under PDF to ‘‘print-to-PDF’’ format, or to use Supreme Court precedent and other case the U.S. Constitution; prohibit the some other commonly-used searchable law. This will help to ensure that Department’s Office for Civil Rights VerDate Sep<11>2014 17:11 Nov 28, 2018 Jkt 247001 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 4701 Sfmt 4702 E:\FR\FM\29NOP3.SGM 29NOP3 khammond on DSK30JT082PROD with PROPOSALS3 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 230 / Thursday, November 29, 2018 / Proposed Rules 61463 (OCR) from requiring a recipient to pay accommodation or auxiliary aid, please indifferent to it, Gebser v. Lago Vista money damages as a remedy for a contact the person listed under FOR Ind. Sch. Dist., 524 U.S. 274 (1998); and violation of any Title IX regulation; and FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. that a school can likewise be liable eliminate the requirement that religious under Title IX based on sexual Background institutions submit a written statement harassment by a student against a to qualify for the Title IX religious Title IX prohibits discrimination on student but only if ‘‘the recipient is exemption. the basis of sex in education programs deliberately indifferent to known acts of and activities that receive federal student-on-student sexual harassment,’’ Costs and Benefits financial assistance. See 20 U.S.C. ‘‘the harasser is under the school’s As further detailed in the Regulatory 1681(a). Existing Title IX regulations disciplinary authority,’’ and ‘‘the Impact Analysis, we estimate that the contain specific provisions regarding (i) behavior is so severe, pervasive, and total monetary cost savings of these the Assistant Secretary’s authority to objectively offensive that it denies its regulations over ten years would be in determine remedies necessary to victims the equal access to education the range of $286.4 million to $367.7 overcome effects of discrimination (34 that Title IX is designed to protect,’’ million. In addition, the major benefits CFR 106.3), (ii) the effect of other Davis v. Monroe Cty. Bd. of Educ., 526 of these proposed regulations, taken as requirements (34 CFR 106.6), (iii) U.S. 629, 647, 652 (1999). a whole, include achieving the designation of a responsible employee In the four decades since HEW issued protective purposes of Title IX via fair, (34 CFR 106.8(a)), (iv) adoption of the 1975 rule, no Title IX regulations reliable procedures that provide grievance procedures (34 CFR 106.8(b)), have been promulgated to address adequate due process protections for (v) dissemination of policy (34 CFR sexual harassment as a form of sex those involved in grievance processes. 106.9), and (vi) exemption for religious discrimination; instead, the Department Invitation to Comment: We invite you schools (34 CFR 106.12). For reasons has addressed this subject through a to
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