Case: Department of Education OCR Title IX Investigation of Cisco College

In the spring of 2014, a student at Cisco College filed a complaint with the US Department of Education, Dallas Office for Civil Rights (OCR) alleging that the College failed to comply with Title IX. Specifically, the student asserted that the College failed to promptly and equitably respond to reports of sexual violence, including the complainant’s report. She alleged that because Cisco failed to respond to her sexual assault report appropriately, she and other students were subjected to a sexually hostile environment in violation of Title IX. On May 7, 2014, OCR announced that it would investigate the allegations.

After several years of investigation, OCR announced on July 19, 2017 that it was expanding the scope of its investigation to include another complaint it received from another student. Before formally issuing a letter of findings, OCR had a phone call with Cisco officials on October 12, 2017 and explained that the College was not compliant with Title IX in a variety of areas: it failed to publish an effective grievance procedure or appropriately respond to the complainant’s allegations of sexual misconduct. In response, Cisco officials expressed interest in entering a resolution agreement to resolve the concerns.

On October 16, 2017, OCR had a phone call with the complainant to discuss proposed remedies, including the possibility of the College issuing a letter of apology for failing to comply with Title IX. The College would also reimburse the complainant for related medical expenses up to a certain amount as well as her tuition expenses.

On November 2, 2017, OCR issued a formal letter of findings that Cisco was out of compliance with Title IX. Specifically, OCR found that the College failed to respond promptly and equitably to the complainant’s report of sexual assault and thus created a hostile environment for her. In addition, the College failed to designate a Title IX Coordinator prior to 2014 and then provided the Coordinator insufficient training. OCR found that the College had numerous errors in its nondiscrimination statements, failed to publish a compliant grievance procedure at the time of the student’s complaint, and still had a noncompliant procedure in place. With respect to the complainant’s individual situation, OCR found that the College failed to offer interim measures to either the complainant or the respondent and failed to make a determination as to whether the student was subjected to a hostile environment.

To resolve these areas of noncompliance, OCR and Cisco College entered into a Resolution Agreement on October 24, 2017. The College agreed to review and revise all Title IX policies to ensure compliance; develop a procedure to consistently document and maintain data for all Title IX complaints; provide annual, mandatory Title IX training to responsible employees; issue an apology letter to the complainant, including an offer to meet with the Title IX Coordinator, and remedy any remaining or ongoing effects on the student; conduct student outreach including providing annual online Title IX training; and submit to monitoring by OCR to ensure ongoing compliance with Title IX.

OCR redacted Cisco's ongoing reporting deadlines. Accordingly, it is unknown whether OCR has yet closed the case.