Greenwich Title IX Sexual Assault Lawyer
If you are a student or faculty member of a school that receives any amount of funding from the federal government, you have the right under Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments to be free from sex-based discrimination and mistreatment while at school. Furthermore, your federally funded school is obligated to take specific measures to reduce the risk of sexual violence affecting anyone in their care. These obligations unfortunately cannot always prevent sexual assault from occurring on college and university campuses, as experienced Title IX attorneys know all too well.
People who experience any form of criminal sexual assault while attending or working at a federally funded school in Connecticut should be able to obtain reasonable accommodations and assistance through their school’s Title IX office to help them keep their educational career on track. If you have questions about your rights or need help with proactively enforcing them, you should reach out to a Greenwich Title IX sexual assault lawyer sooner rather than later.
Is Filing a Title IX Complaint the Same as Pressing Criminal Charges?
Filing a Title IX complaint is not the same as pressing criminal charges. The penalties resulting from a Title IX violation differ from criminal offenses. Furthermore, Title IX violations are often handled internally by the individual school administration, whereas criminal charges are handled by local police and adjudicated by our State of Connecticut criminal courts. Since Title IX is often an internal process, different schools may have different organizational approaches towards investigating allegations of sexual assault on campus, providing accommodations to people affected by sexual assault on campus, and even sanctioning people found to have likely committed sexual assault on campus. Title IX violations are decided based on a preponderance of the available evidence standard. It is also worth noting that it is possible to file a Title IX complaint of sexual assault without also pressing criminal charges over the same incident. Still, a skilled Greenwich Title IX sexual assault attorney can help pursue either type of case.
Seeking Accommodations Through a Title IX Sexual Assault Report
Rather than just punishing the person who committed an act of sexual assault, the ostensible goal of a Title IX investigation into an alleged sexual assault on campus is to ensure no further harm comes to the person targeted by that assault. This can entail making changes to school policies and procedures to prevent future assaults, imposing administrative sanctions against the perpetrator, and—most commonly of all—providing accommodations to the person impacted by the assault. Those accommodations include:
- Access to confidential counseling and academic support services;
- Rearrangement of class schedules, including being allowed to drop classes or reschedule exams without consequence if necessary;
- Provision of alternative housing arrangements for the target of the assault; and/or
- Removal of the perpetrator from on-campus housing and/or organizations.
As your Title IX sexual assault lawyer in Greenwich can explain, your school is also required to ensure you are not subjected to any form of retaliation from anyone on campus for reporting your sexual assault, for receiving Title IX accommodations, or for participating in a Title IX investigation.
Get Help From a Greenwich Title IX Sexual Assault Attorney
Title IX places numerous requirements on your school to keep you safe from gender discrimination and all forms of sexual violence while on campus or participating in school events. If a sexual assault does occur under their watch, Title IX requires your school to take substantial measures to investigate the matter and ensure it does not happen again. In the meantime, you have the right to seek accommodations so you can minimize disruption to your academic career.
A Greenwich Title IX sexual assault lawyer can help you understand and enforce your rights under Title IX regardless of whether you want to also pursue criminal charges. Call today for a consultation, and click here to see what past clients of Mark Sherman Law have said on Avvo.com about working with us.