UIC statement on implementation of Title IX

Dear colleagues:

The University of Illinois Chicago does not discriminate on the basis of sex and prohibits sex discrimination of any kind, sexual harassment or other sexual misconduct in its education programs and activities, as required by Title IX and other laws, including in admission and employment.

The U.S. Department of Education’s final regulations implementing Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 are posted in the Federal Register. The final regulations were published on April 19, 2024, and are effective as of today, Aug. 1, 2024.

The new regulations include several specific training and reporting requirements for all employees of the University of Illinois Chicago. Formal mandatory training on these requirements will be made available during the spring 2025 semester. Until this training becomes available, it is critical that you are aware of and understand the requirements listed below. Please read this email and reach out to your Title IX coordinator if you have any questions.

All employees must be trained on:

• The university’s obligation to address sex discrimination in its education program or activity;
• The scope of conduct that constitutes sex discrimination under Title IX and the university policy and grievance procedures, including the definition of sex-based harassment; and
• When a student, or a person who has legal right to act on behalf of a student, informs an employee of the student’s pregnancy or related conditions, the employee must promptly provide that person with the contact information for the Title IX coordinator and inform the person that the Title IX coordinator can coordinate specific actions to prevent sex discrimination and ensure the student’s equal access to the education program or activity. Applicable notification and information requirements under §§ 106.40(b)(2).
• An employee with knowledge of conduct that may reasonably constitute sex discrimination in the university’s education program or activity must respond promptly and effectively. Any employee who is not a confidential employee must notify the Title IX coordinator when the employee has information about conduct that reasonably may constitute sex discrimination under Title IX or the University of Illinois Chicago Comprehensive Policy and Procedure on Sex Discrimination, Including Harassment.

Additional Confidential Employee (as defined for Title IX purpose below) Requirements

• The university must notify all participants in its education program or activity of how to contact its confidential employees.
• The university must require a confidential employee to explain to any person who informs the confidential employee of conduct that reasonably may constitute sex discrimination under Title IX or this part:

(i) The employee’s status as confidential for purposes of this part, including the circumstances in which the employee is not required to notify the Title IX coordinator about conduct that reasonably may constitute sex discrimination;

(ii) How to contact the recipient’s Title IX coordinator and how to make a complaint of sex discrimination; and

(iii) That the Title IX coordinator may be able to offer and coordinate supportive measures, as well as initiate an informal resolution process or an investigation under the grievance procedures.

Note: There are specific training requirements for individuals who are investigators, decision makers and other persons who are responsible for implementing the university’s grievance procedures or have the authority to modify or terminate supportive measures, as well as training for facilitators of any informal resolution process and the Title IX coordinator and designees.

Public awareness events

When the university’s Title IX coordinator is notified of information about conduct that reasonably may constitute sex-based harassment under Title IX or the Comprehensive Policy and Procedure on Sex Discrimination, Including Harassment that was provided by a person during a public event to raise awareness about sex-based harassment that was held on campus or through an online platform sponsored by the university, the university is not obligated to act in response to the information, unless it indicates an imminent and serious threat to the health or safety of a complainant, any students, employees or other persons. However, in all cases the university must use this information to inform its efforts to prevent sex-based harassment, including by providing tailored training to address alleged sex-based harassment in a particular part of its education program or activity or at a specific location when information indicates there may be multiple incidents of sex-based harassment.

Important definitions

• Sex-based harassment prohibited by this part is a form of sex discrimination and means sexual harassment and other harassment on the basis of sex, including on the bases described in § 106.10, that is:
• Quid pro quo harassment. An employee, agent or other person authorized by the university to provide an aid, benefit or service under the university’s education program or activity explicitly or impliedly conditioning the provision of such an aid, benefit or service on a person’s participation in unwelcome sexual conduct;

(2) Hostile environment harassment. Unwelcome sex-based conduct that, based on the totality of the circumstances, is subjectively and objectively offensive and is so severe or pervasive that it limits or denies a person’s ability to participate in or benefit from the university’s education program or activity (i.e., creates a hostile environment). Whether a hostile environment has been created is a fact-specific inquiry that includes consideration of the following:

(i) The degree to which the conduct affected the complainant’s ability to access the university’s education program or activity;

(ii) The type, frequency and duration of the conduct;

(iii) The parties’ ages, roles within the university’s education program or activity, previous interactions and other factors about each party that may be relevant to evaluating the effects of the conduct;

(iv) The location of the conduct and the context in which the conduct occurred; and

(v) Other sex-based harassment in the university’s education program or activity; or

(3) Specific offenses.

(i) Sexual assault, meaning an offense classified as a forcible or nonforcible sex offense under the uniform crime reporting system of the Federal Bureau of Investigation;

(ii) Dating violence, meaning violence committed by a person:

(A) Who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim; and

(B) Where the existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on a consideration of the following factors:

(1) The length of the relationship;

(2) The type of relationship; and

(3) The frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship;

(iii) Domestic violence, meaning felony or misdemeanor crimes committed by a person who:

(A) Is a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the victim under the family or domestic violence laws of the jurisdiction of the recipient, or a person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim;

(B) Is cohabitating or has cohabitated with the victim as a spouse or intimate partner;

(C) Shares a child in common with the victim; or

(D) Commits acts against a youth or adult victim who is protected from those acts under the family or domestic violence laws of the jurisdiction; or

(iv) Stalking, meaning engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to:

(A) Fear for the person’s safety or the safety of others; or

(B) Suffer substantial emotional distress.

• Scope: Discrimination on the basis of sex includes discrimination on the basis of sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
• Pregnancy or related conditions means:

(1) Pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy or lactation;

(2) Medical conditions related to pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy or lactation; or

(3) Recovery from pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, lactation or related medical conditions.

• Parental, family or marital status; pregnancy or related conditions:

(a) Status generally. A university must not adopt or implement any policy, practice or procedure concerning a student’s current, potential or past parental, family or marital status that treats students differently on the basis of sex.

(b) Pregnancy or related conditions.

(1) Nondiscrimination. A university must not discriminate in its education program or activity against any student based on the student’s current, potential or past pregnancy or related conditions. A university does not engage in prohibited discrimination when it allows a student, based on pregnancy or related conditions, to voluntarily participate in a separate portion of its education program or activity provided the university ensures that the separate portion is comparable to that offered to students who are not pregnant and do not have related conditions.

(2) Responsibility to provide Title IX coordinator contact and other information. A university must ensure that when a student, or a person who has a legal right to act on behalf of the student, informs any employee of the student’s pregnancy or related conditions, unless the employee reasonably believes that the Title IX coordinator has been notified, the employee promptly provides that person with the Title IX coordinator’s contact information and informs that person that the Title IX coordinator can coordinate specific actions to prevent sex discrimination and ensure the student’s equal access to the recipient’s education program or activity.

• Parental status means:

The status of a person who, with respect to another person who is under the age of 18 or who is 18 or older but is incapable of self-care because of a physical or mental disability, is:

(1) A biological parent;

(2) An adoptive parent;

(3) A foster parent;

(4) A stepparent;

(5) A legal custodian or guardian;

(6) In loco parentis with respect to such a person; or

(7) Actively seeking legal custody, guardianship, visitation or adoption of such a person.

• Confidential employee means:

(1) An employee of a recipient whose communications are privileged or confidential under federal or state law. The employee’s confidential status, for purposes of this part, is only with respect to information received while the employee is functioning within the scope of their duties to which privilege or confidentiality applies;

(2) An employee of a recipient whom the recipient has designated as confidential under this part for the purpose of providing services to persons related to sex discrimination. If the employee also has a duty not associated with providing those services, the employee’s confidential status is only with respect to information received about sex discrimination in connection with providing those services; or

(3) An employee of a postsecondary institution who is conducting an Institutional Review Board-approved human-subjects research study designed to gather information about sex discrimination — but the employee’s confidential status is only with respect to information received while conducting the study.

Title IX coordinator: University of Illinois Chicago

Inquiries about Title IX may be referred to the Title IX coordinator listed below or the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. Please review the University of Illinois Chicago Comprehensive Policy and Procedure on Sex Discrimination, Including Harassment. You may also file a report online.

Donald Kamm, J.D.
Title IX Coordinator, University of Illinois Chicago
809 South Marshfield Ave., Room 717, M/C 602
Chicago, IL 60612-7207
312-996-8670
titleix@uic.edu
Website: https://sexualmisconduct.uic.edu/

For more information, please contact:
Donald Kamm
titleix@uic.edu