Title IX: What your college owes you after sexual assault

The allegations of a gang rape at a Cornell University fraternity house have raised a question many students never ask until they need the answer: What is my college required to do if I report a sexual assault?

Title IX, a 1972 federal law, bans sex discrimination at any school that takes federal money. That covers nearly every U.S. college. Courts and the Education Department have long treated sexual harassment and assault as a form of sex discrimination, and colleges can push a student out of class, out of the dorm, or out of school entirely.

The moment a college learns about an assault, it has legal duties to the student under Title IX. Students also have choices about whether to report, when, and to whom.

Here’s what you need to know.

Why It Matters

The largest national study, the 2019 AAU Campus Climate Survey, surveyed students at 33 universities. It found that 13% of all students had experienced nonconsensual sexual contact by physical force or inability to consent since enrolling. For undergraduate women, it was 25.9%, about four times the rate for undergraduate men (6.8%).

Individual campuses can look worse. As reported by NPR, a 2025 Cornell survey found more than 1 in 3 undergraduate women reported a sexual assault during their time there, up from 23% in 2023.

Most of it is never reported. A Bureau of Justice Statistics study found only 20% of rapes and sexual assaults against college women ages 18 to 24 were reported to police. Just 16% got help from a victim services agency. That’s why knowing your options matters.

Enforcement Rules Are Changing

The Title IX law itself hasn’t changed since 1972. What changes is how each administration’s Education Department tells schools to enforce it through federal implementing rules. Those rules have changed through the Obama, Biden, and Trump administrations:

• 2011, Obama: A “Dear Colleague” guidance letter told colleges to investigate aggressively and use the lowest standard of proof, “preponderance of the evidence” (more likely than not).
• 2017–2020, Trump’s first term: That guidance was withdrawn in 2017. In 2020, formal regulations narrowed what counts as harassment, required live hearings with cross-examination at colleges, and let schools choose a tougher “clear and convincing” standard.
• 2024, Biden: A new rule extended protection to sexual orientation and gender identity and dropped the live-hearing requirement. A federal court vacated it in January 2025, and schools went back to the 2020 rules.
• September 2026, Trump’s second term: The Education Department formally rescinded the 2024 rule and put the 2020 rules back into federal regulations, effective immediately.

So today, the 2020 rules are back in effect. Critics, like the National Women’s Law Center, say they ignore what survivors need. Supporters say they guarantee fair process for students accused of serious misconduct.

Who You Tell Matters

Every college that gets federal money must have a Title IX coordinator. This is the person whose job is to receive reports, offer students help, and run the complaint process. Under the 2020 rules that are now in effect, a college’s legal duty kicks in once the coordinator, or an official with power to fix the problem, knows about it.

But not everyone on campus keeps things private. Many colleges label most professors, RAs and staff as “responsible employees” who must pass what you tell them to the Title IX office. Counselors, health center staff, and often chaplains and survivor advocates are usually confidential. Talking to them won’t open a case unless you want one.

Students should understand that the Title IX office itself is not confidential. Many advocates suggest talking first with a confidential counselor or advocate to sort through your options.

If privacy matters to you, ask before sharing details: “Are you a confidential resource?” And if you do meet with the Title IX office, many schools let you bring a support person with you.

Obligations Without a Formal Complaint

Students can get help without filing a formal complaint. Once the school knows, the coordinator must reach out promptly, talk with you about “supportive measures,” ask what you want, and explain how to file a complaint, if you choose to.

Supportive measures are free and must be kept as private as possible. They can include:

• Moving to different housing
• Changing your class schedule or work shifts
• A no-contact order between you and the other person
• Extensions on assignments or exams
• Access to counseling
• Campus escorts

The goal, as one former Education Department civil rights official told NPR, is to make sure the student can keep going to class.

Students are also protected from retaliation. Your school can’t punish, threaten or intimidate you, or anyone who helps you or serves as a witness, for reporting or taking part in the process. If that happens, report it to the coordinator, too.

If You File a Formal Complaint

A signed formal complaint starts an investigation. This is where the 2020 rules that are now in effect are important to understand, especially for the “respondents:”

• They are presumed not responsible until the process ends and generally can’t be disciplined before then.
• Both sides get written notice, can bring an advisor (often a lawyer), present witnesses, and review all the evidence.
• Colleges must hold a live hearing where each side’s advisor cross-examines the other party and witnesses. You never question each other directly, and you can be in separate rooms.
• The school picks its standard of proof: “preponderance of the evidence” or the stricter “clear and convincing.”
• Both sides can appeal.

The definition of harassment in the 2020 rules now in effect is also narrower. Sexual assault, dating violence and stalking always count, but other harassment must be “severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive.”

With or without a formal complaint, the alleged violation must happen in a school program or activity. Incidents outside that scope get dismissed under Title IX, though your school can still handle them under its own student conduct code. Informal options like mediation are allowed only if both sides agree in writing.

The Police Are a Separate Choice

Title IX is a civil rights process, not a criminal one. You can report to your school, the police, both, or neither. The federal Clery Act requires colleges to tell you in writing about your right to go to the police, and your right not to.

The two tracks run on their own timelines. A criminal case requires proof “beyond a reasonable doubt” and can end in jail. A Title IX case uses a lower standard and decides whether the accused can stay on campus.

What About LGBTQ Students?

The 2024 rule explicitly protected students from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. That language is now gone from federal regulations, and federal enforcement has shifted toward transgender athletics and facilities.

But LGBTQ students who are sexually assaulted or harassed are still covered by Title IX’s core protections against sexual violence. Many states and colleges also have their own anti-discrimination rules that go further.

Federal Enforcement of Sexual Assault Has Nearly Stopped

For decades, students who believed their college botched a sexual assault case could turn to the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, or OCR. Filing a complaint is free, and it can lead to a federal investigation and a binding “resolution agreement” that forces a school to fix how it handles cases. The Justice Department can also investigate colleges for systemic failures under Title IX.

In President Trump’s second term, both of those backstops have largely gone quiet for survivors:

• From more than 150 resolved cases to one. In the first 20 months of Trump’s first term, OCR resolved more than 150 sexual harassment and sexual violence cases, according to a public government database reviewed by The New York Times. In the first 20 months of his second term, the same database shows one. An Education Department spokeswoman said the department has resolved dozens of such cases but declined to provide documents or explain why they’re missing from the database, and The Times couldn’t verify that claim. Similarly, Sen. Bernie Sanders’ April 2026 report found zero resolution agreements in 2025 among 334 pending sexual violence cases.
• Few new investigations. OCR once opened dozens of sexual violence investigations a year. Since layoffs in March 2025 cut its lawyers roughly in half, it has opened fewer than 10 nationwide, according to internal data obtained by the Associated Press.
• Most complaints are dismissed. The Government Accountability Office found OCR dismissed about 90% of the more than 9,000 new discrimination complaints it received from March to September 2025.
• Different priorities. Following Trump’s executive orders, the administration has used Title IX mainly to open dozens of investigations aimed at removing protections for transgender students, keeping transgender athletes off female sports teams and eliminating gender-neutral bathrooms.
• What the administration says. A Justice Department spokeswoman told The New York Times that protecting women and girls remains a top priority and that schools that fail their obligations will be held accountable. The Education Department has also argued that restoring sex-separated locker rooms and restrooms is itself a safeguard against sexual violence.

Students can still file an OCR complaint, and advocates say it’s worth doing because it creates a federal record. Generally, a complaint must be filed within 180 days of the incident or of your school’s last action on your case.

Complaints can be filed online at: https://ocrcas.ed.gov/

Resources

These organizations offer help whether you’re a survivor, supporting a friend, or want to understand your rights.

RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline: Free, confidential support 24/7 by phone at 1-800-656-4673 or by online chat.
Know Your IX: A survivor- and youth-led project of Advocates for Youth that explains Title IX in plain language, including how to file a complaint and how to support a friend.
National Sexual Violence Resource Center directory: A searchable list of national and state organizations that support survivors, useful for finding help near your campus.
The Trevor Project: Free, confidential 24/7 crisis support for LGBTQ young people.