New Scholarship Suggests Title IX Policy Look to Canada

A new article in the UC Davis Journal of Juvenile Law & Policy suggests that Title IX policy in the context of student harassment should use Canada's approach to protecting human rights as a model for reform. From the abstract:

This article critically examines the success of Title IX in eradicating sexual harassment in educational settings following the Supreme Court decisions in Gebser v. Lago and Monroe v. Davis. Regrettably, the high bar for recovery established by these cases, in addition to poor administrative enforcement of Title IX, have eroded the legislation's ability to maintain discrimination-free schools. After examining how the Canadian human rights model operates in the context of sexual harassment in educational settings, the United States should refer to the Canadian model to improve its own system. Specifically, the United States should streamline and simplify its administrative enforcement of Title IX and articulate clearer legal standards for injunctive relief as opposed to recovery of compensatory damages.

One notable difference between the U.S. and Canada is that in Canada, sexual harassment and other charges of human rights violations are considered in special administrative tribunals rather than the judicial system. The author suggests that these "human rights tribunals, though impartial, are in a particularly good position to properly adjudicate discrimination complaints because their sole jurisdiction and experience is in human rights law."

The article is: Brianne I. Weiss, Title IX Versus Canadian Human Rights Legislation: How the United States Should Learn from Canada's Human Rights Act in the Context of Sexual Harassment in Schools, 11 UC Davis J. Juvenile L. & Pol'y 55 (2007).