Sexual Harassment

Public Justice’s Students’ Civil Rights Project is nationally recognized for its expertise and leadership in litigating Title IX and constitutional cases on behalf of student survivors of sexual harassment, including sexual assault and dating violence. Our team is responsible for some of the most important Title IX victories of the past years.

Doe v. Fairfax County School Board: Public Justice and our co-counsel represented Jane Doe, a Virginia high school student who was sexually assaulted by her classmate. After her school refused to provide her the support she needed, Jane filed a Title IX lawsuit. Public Justice led a successful appeal, resulting in a strong opinion reaffirming the rights of student survivors, and defeated the school’s effort to seek Supreme Court review.

Snyder-Hill v. The Ohio State University: Ohio State University allowed a university doctor, Richard Strauss, to abuse male student athletes and others for decades. Public Justice represents over a hundred of Strauss’s survivors in this Title IX lawsuit against the school. Public Justice and co-counsel succeeded in persuading an appeals court that the victims filed their claims within the statute of limitations, and that all people subjected to sex discrimination by schools—not only students and employees—can bring Title IX claims.

Brown v. State of Arizona: Mackenzie Brown was subjected to egregious intimate partner violence by a classmate when they were both enrolled at the University of Arizona. She filed a Title IX lawsuit against the school, which had known about her abuser’s violence toward other students but did nothing to stop him. Three judges on a federal appeals court held that the school did not break the law when it caused Mackenzie to be abused because the abuse occurred off school grounds. Public Justice then joined the case, convincing the full appeals court to rehear the appeal and rule for Mackenzie instead.

Roohbakhsh v. Board of Trustees of the Nebraska State Colleges: Fatima Larios was a student at Chadron State College when she died by suicide as a result of dating violence that the school knew about and ignored. Public Justice and its co-counsel helped Fatima’s parents and estate establish legal precedent that dating violence can be sex-based—and so prohibited by Title IX—and that suicide is a foreseeable consequence of dating violence. The case resulted in a significant settlement designed to improve student safety and build a lasting legacy for Fatima at Chadron State.

Czerwienski v. President and Fellows of Harvard College: Public Justice represents graduate student plaintiffs in a high-profile lawsuit concerning Harvard’s decade-long failure to protect students from sexual harassment and retaliation by a renowned anthropology professor.

You can learn about more of the Students’ Civil Rights Project’s sexual harassment cases here.

If you believe you may have a case that Public Justice should know about, please click here to send our legal team details.

In addition to our litigation, the Students’ Civil Rights Project and our clients also engage in public advocacy to advance the rights of student survivors of sexual harassment.

Our letter to the Department of Education about retaliation against student survivors (2021)
Our comments to the Department of Education opposing proposed Title IX rules on sexual harassment (2019)
Our comments with the National Women’s Law Center to the Department of Education on Title IX, sexual assault, and fairness in student discipline (2017)
Our response to Secretary Betsy DeVos’s rollback of Title IX protections (2017)
Our letter written with the National Women’s Law Center to Secretary DeVos demanding that the Department of Education investigate sexual abuse at Ohio State University (2018)
Alexandra Brodsky’s article in the Boston University Law Review Online about Title IX’s protections for student survivors (2023)
A UC Davis Law Review article, co-authored by Alexandra Brodsky, about “reverse discrimination” Title IX lawsuits brought by students and school staff found responsible for sexual harassment (2022)