What Patterns or Anomalies Develop Among the Institutional Characteristics of Colleges and Universities that Have Signed a Title IX Sexual Assault and Harassment Resolution Agreement with the OCR

The Office for Civil Rights for the Department of Education received 9,989 complaints in 2014. 5,845 of those cases were Title IX complaints, 854 pertaining to sexual harassment or assault (United States Department of Education, 2015). This dissertation answers the question, "What patterns or anomalies develop among the institutional characteristics of colleges and universities that have signed a Title IX sexual assault and harassment resolution agreement with the OCR." As of October 25, 2016, there are 281 active Title IX investigations being conducted by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) for the Department of Education (The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2016). Due to the structure of enforcement, the majority of these investigations ending with a finding of noncompliance are resolved with a resolution agreement. The OCR and the institution will agree to terms to change certain policies to improve compliance. The last resort of enforcement by the OCR is the removal of federal funding or referring the case to the Department of Justice to proceed with a lawsuit. Neither of which have yet to be executed as an enforcement measure. Resolution agreements between the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Education and institutions include data regarding the incident that initiated the investigation, the details of the case, how the institution responded to a complaint, and the agreement made to resolve the issue of noncompliance. This descriptive study examined higher education Title IX resolution agreements in an effort to identify patterns which may exist based on institutional characteristics. Though the examination of how and why such patterns exist is beyond the scope of this particular study, it can serve as the basis for future research.