Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, as amended, prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex (including sexual harassment) in all educational programs and activities of institutions that receive federal financial assistance. The law states, in part, that:
No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.
Learn more about 20 U.S.C. § 1681(a)
The Office of Civil Rights and Diversity is responsible for monitoring and enforcing compliance with Title IX, investigating Title IX-related complaints, and providing technical assistance related to Title IX to recipients of Department of Energy financial assistance.
Department of Energy Title IX Implementing Regulations:
The Department has promulgated regulations implementing Title IX. The Department’s Title IX implementing regulations can be found at 10 C.F.R. Parts 1042 and 1040.
Title IX Post-Award Compliance Reviews:
The Department of Energy (DOE) provides financial assistance to educational institutions through a variety of federal financial assistance programs, and is a major federal funding agency for basic research and development programs in the sciences at institutions of higher learning. DOE currently provides hundreds of millions of dollars in Federal funding annually to recipient colleges and universities’ science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs. DOE regulations require that the agency take steps to ensure that educational institutions that receive federal assistance do not discriminate based on gender. In order to ensure that the educational programs that the Department funds afford equal opportunities to all students and are free of discrimination, DOE conducts periodic reviews of recipients’ programs and activities.
The Department’s Office of Civil Rights evaluates and assesses the outreach and recruitment and admissions policies and practices of selected graduate science or engineering programs at each institution to determine:
(a) whether male and female applicants are ranked separately;
(b) whether numerical limitations are applied to the number or proportion of persons of either sex who are admitted;
(c) whether tests or other criteria for admission are administered that have a disproportionately adverse effect on persons on the basis of sex; and
(d) whether all students have equal access to programs and opportunities offered by the university and the selected graduate science or engineering programs.
The Department’s regulations require each recipient of financial assistance to develop, publish, and implement procedures for the prompt and equitable resolution of student and employee Title IX complaints. The regulations also require a recipient to designate at least one employee to coordinate its Title IX compliance efforts and to carry out its Title IX responsibilities, including the investigation of complaints or allegations of noncompliance with Title IX.
To date, DOE has conducted twenty-eight (28) Title IX compliance reviews of universities throughout the country. You can find them below:
- Columbia University
- University of Wisconsin-Madison
- University of Washington-Seattle
- Arizona State University
- University of Central Florida
- North Carolina State University
- Princeton University
- University of Pennsylvania
- University of Rochester
- University of North Dakota
- University of Southern California
- University of Delaware
- Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
- Clemson University
- University of Texas at Austin
- Purdue University
- University of Illinois
- University of Tennessee
- University of Utah
- University of Florida
- Iowa State University
- University of California Irvine
- Florida International University
- Montana State University
- University of Pittsburgh
- Northwestern University