Introduction

Title IX is found in the Education Amendments of the year 1972. It is a civil rights law that protects against discrimination in sex for activities or programs which have a funding in federal agencies (Carpenter, 200). This type of discrimination includes vices like rape, harassment and sexual assault. For any organization or institution which ignores cases of sexual discrimination while receiving funds from the federal bodies can be charged on legal terms. In schools cases of sexual discrimination have attracted consequences like payment of money damages for the victim in discrimination.

Thesis Statement

The argument is concerned with discrimination of sex in institutions specifically sexual assault. This vice is a common thing in many institutions that receive federal funding. Such cases are declared to be civil cases thus punishable by the court of law. For the institutions that have experienced this incidence on sexual assault, have been charged whether the act was done by a member of staff or student. In the recent years there has been a keen campaign against this evil especially in workplaces. For instance, in schools if a student’s participates in rape or assault, it qualifies as an act of discrimination thus prosecution. In the court's view point, the institution should take responsibility of the environment and the assaulter thereby ensuring they are fully competent with their activities.

This paper strives to create an argument on the subject of sexual assault as per the Title IX civil rights law. The paper uses secondary source of data to create a credible basis for discussion. The matter is a common vice that happens in institutions and are caused by staff members or even the students themselves.  The institutions are thereby held responsible. In this discussion, vital information in the subject matter is discussed. The argument here is that assaults in institutions are a vice that should always be prosecuted irrespective of the offender.

Sexual Assault

The civil rights law states that no individual in the United States of America is to discriminate on basis on sex in any institution of education that receives funding from federal organizations. It is a law that serves to protect the staff and students in educational activities and programs (Suggs, 2005).

There has been a lot of reported cases of assault in institutions allow over the world. These incidences are usually a serious civil crime that attracts legal prosecution. The Supreme Court claims that a learning institution is legally held responsible when its response to these cases is taken as unreasonable.

Those who have survived the cases of sexual assault in the past years have sued these learning institutions in state courts and federal courts for the situations in harassment. In the year 2007, a federal court ruling against the University of Georgia in the act of rape by an athlete for poor supervision and even is admitting this student. It was known to the organization that the student had history in cases of assault. He had previously harassed a woman in another college center, but this information was not taken seriously by the university. The university had to pay damages to the victim and subsequently established a policy on sexual relationships in the institution.

For the university a lack of proper follow up procedures that would ensure the safety of its students from malicious acts like rape led to prosecution (California, 1987). It was unethical to recruit a student who had past involvement in sexual assault to an institution without supervising him.

Another incident in the University of Colorado exhibited similar trends in sexual assault. This was where a federal court in the year 2007 had involvements that made it susceptible to prosecution. The incident was reported to have been a rape case that occurred in the football activity. This is against the light of the law, where the educational program in football had experienced a violation of federal law. The court blamed the University for ignoring g the risk of rape while recruiting visits in this activity (Hogshead-Makar, 2007). It should have been in order for the University of Colorado to ensure a plan against such risks.

The institution had to part with a total of two and a half million dollars to pay damages to its victims and set up initiatives to ensure no such cases occur in the future. They had to establish a body of handling such cases called the Office of Victim Assistance.

While responding to cases of sexual assault under this civil law, the needs and safety of its students should come first. The institution is fully accountable for their students in spite of the prevailing activities. For instance, all educational activities and program should show that their student’s population is secure and free from any sexual discrimination. The activities that are run in any institutions are to be securely in accordance to the requirements of the federal law. The basic need is that any institution that does not supervise or take into account the history of sexual assault for its students is liable to prosecution by the Amendment Act, Title IX (Blumenthal, 2005).

The university or college's administration has to ensure that the student’s population is protected from incidences that affect their sexual orientation. There needs to be appropriate standards that set the pace for the institutional moral upkeep. These initiatives are procedural and liaise with the set policies in federal conduct. For instance, taking into consideration the incident in the University of Colorado, the student who was reported of rape should have been taken under a probationary consideration that would confirm his reputation.

Cases of moral instability or sexual assaults are commonly termed as psychological. This is because the assaulter usually has his innate beliefs and perspectives that usually prompt this action. They are best put under therapy for the purpose or reformation. Fundamentally, these individuals suffer from issues of personality and social instability. Whereby they do not view their victims as people of equal status but inferior to them. This explains why in most cases of rape the victim is usually brutalized and even mutilated just for the perpetrator to gain advantage.

In the United States of America, most victims of these inhuman actions suffer prolonged psychological complications in trauma and depression. In most cases they might even opt for suicide. This is due to the pain and shock after the experience; they fail to understand why they have to go through such an incident. According to the civil right in Title IX, the institution is held accountable for deliberate indifference (Hogshead-Makar, 2007).

This legislation for learning institutions is purposed to improve on the standards of the center. It is designed to root out the social evil in sexual discrimination. The officials in this institution have to designed relevant policies and initiatives that strive to curb cases of sexual assault for its students thus promoting a morally upright institution (Blumenthal, 2005).

Those who have gone through these assaults do not configure effectively with their environment after the incident. They fail to have the necessary connection with the society having been traumatized by individuals who form their normal routine. According to studies conducted by social analysts, these individuals suffer from a personality disorder (Hattem, 2000). This is where they might develop strong perceptions of the perpetrator. For instance, a victim of rape might stop seeing men as human beings and develop strong feelings of hate and distaste a strong sexual assault policy should include meaningful efforts at educating students about the dynamics of sexual assault, the effect it has on survivors, and the many factors that allow it to continue. A good policy should include student input, be available and understandable to students, be fair to victims and the accused, and provide crisis intervention assistance and

Prevention programs.

According to the social set up of gender, women are more likely to face this assault than men. This naturally sets the bias for gender thus terming women as the immediate victims of assault. Statistically speaking, in a college or university, eight out of ten individuals face sexual assaults and harassments. This study is concurrent with the educational set up in the United States of America. For the comparison of men and women in relation to Title IX, women face fifty six per cent while men have forty per cent. Another interesting fact is that the men of today are more prone to such treatment than those of the year 1993 (Hogshead-Makar, 2007).

The common complaints in educational institutions include sexual jokes or comments or touching or grabbing someone in a way that is considered sexual. These are the minor cases of harassments in schools and colleges.

Universities, colleges and schools must ensure that they lower the proceedings in disciplinary actions for the students both victims and perpetrators. The idea is that the victims are given a conducive environment to present their complaints (California, 1987)

Schools and colleges also must take steps to ensure that student disciplinary proceedings are fair to victims and perpetrators alike and that the standard of proof applied in such proceedings is not a barrier that prevents victims of sexual assault from coming forward. This is according to the Office of civil rights of the Department of Education. This office made efforts to send every institution in America a letter describing the necessary procedures for sexual assault. They insisted that students had to go through a system that is a little lower than that of a normal court procedure. The case is still based on evidence that is presented by the victim against the perpetrator (Suggs, 2005).

It is quite in order for those who violate the sexual rights of their sexual counterparts face strict legislation. This is only fair to the victims that they have the satisfaction of compensation by both the institution and the court system by punishing the assaulter.

This law gives the victim a protection cause against any threats by the assaulter thus ensuring that they come forward. It is vital that these victims seek guidance as early as possible to prevent long term effects (Hogshead-Makar, 2007). Guidance is designed to ensure that they retain their sense of personality. More seriously, the victims should maintain their learning environment in school and fully benefit from study. It becomes quite difficult for those students in trauma to concentrate in education thus performance reduction.

Conclusion

While looking at sexual assault under Title IX, it is vital that some important facts be understood. Firstly, all educational institutions in the United States of America that are federally funded should never condone cases of sexual misconduct. This is the basis for the civil legislation by the Title IX law (Blumenthal, 2005). It is also very vital that after realizing that there are a number of students who are psychologically affected by the incident be treated. The first step for the school would be to establish a guidance procedure for these students internally to sustain their academic goals.

The procedure under Title IX is not considered as a law enforcement procedure but a locally conducted research b the institution. It is therefore done promptly before any curt system comes into play. This is to establish an understanding for the school on the case. Failure of the institution to respond adequately to such cases leads to interventions by the courts thus penalty charges are incurred.