No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972

American University is committed to creating an accessible and inclusive environment that supports and serves our community members.

Consistent with Title IX, American University prohibits sex-based harassment and discrimination, sexual violence, relationship violence, and stalking. Under American University's Title IX Sexual Harrassment Policy and Grievance Procedures and Discrimination, Harassment, Retaliation, and Sexual Misconduct Policy and Grievance Procedures, the university expressly prohibits any form of discriminatory harassment on any protected bases, including dating violence, domestic violence, rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and stalking.

Title IX at American University

The Title IX regulations from the Department of Education went into effect August 14, 2020, and required significant changes to the Title IX process. The Title IX regulations required specific changes for reporting and responding to sexual harassment in the University’s education programs and activities that occurs against a person in the United States. Specifically, some of those changes included narrowing the definition of what constitutes sexual harassment under Title IX, and requiring a live hearing as part of the formal complaint process. Some conduct of a sexual nature which previously fell within the scope of Title IX may no longer do so, but it may continue to be prohibited and addressed by the University under AU’s Discrimination, Harassment, Retaliation, and Sexual Misconduct Policy and Grievance Procedures.

AU has updated the Title IX process to comply with the Title IX regulations, as failure to comply would result in loss of federal funding, including financial aid for students and faculty research grants.

All members of the AU community have received notification of the updated policy, and there have been a variety of forums and discussions to learn more. Training about the Title IX policy will be provided on an ongoing basis. All persons who play a more specific role for the University in the complaint resolution process, including students and employees, will receive specialized training. 

If you or someone in the AU community that you know has experienced sex/gender-based discrimination, sexual violence, dating or domestic violence, or stalking, resources are available and can be found on the ETIX Resource Page. You may use any combination of resources that best meets your needs. You may also report that information to ETIX using the button below.

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