Title IX was added as a part of the Education Amendments Act of 1972. It is a federal law which, according to the U.S. Department of Education, states: "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." In other words, you cannot be discriminated against on the basis of sex in things like sports, classes, extracurricular clubs, etc, and a school must investigate any sexual misconduct/harrassment/violence that is reported to them by a student or "responsible employee".

As defined by the Title IX statue, "responsible employees” are employees at colleges or universities who have authority to take action to redress sexual harassment/misconduct; has been given the duty of reporting incidents of sexual harassment/misconduct or any other misconduct by students to the Title IX coordinator or other appropriate designee; and/or any employee who a student reasonably believes has this authority or duty.

Any employee who has gone through the sexual harrassment/violence awareness training, and knows the reporting practices for Title IX incidents reported to them, are "responsible employees". Ideally, all employees at a college or university are "responsible employees", however, many do not know the reporting practices and what to do when an incident is reported to them.

At UMBC, the Title IX office is located in the Administration building across from the RAC, on the 9th floor. Bobby Hoye's office is located in room 901. She is a Title IX coordinator and a humans relation officer. If you want to formally file a complaint, you can go to her or email her: bhoye@umbc.edu. At other univserities, you can find this information by searching "[your school] Title IX office".

At UMBC, you can ask a professor, the counseling center, the commons information center (CIC), the apartment community center (CC), your residential building's front desk, the women's center, the Title IX office/a coordinator, university health services (UHS), or groups on campus like "We Believe You", for information about Title IX resources. At other colleges/universities, you can visit your version of the list above.

To file a Title IX report, you must report the incident to a Title IX coordinator/investigator or a "responsible employee". They will file the incident, then a Title IX coordinator/investigator in charge of your case will reach out to you to in order to determine if you want to go ahead and file charges against the other person, or if you want to settle for something else, such as a "No Contact Order".

When you have filed a Title IX report, and have decided to move forward and press Title IX charges against another individual, the investigation will officially start. You will be asked to recount all details of the incident, a list of witnesses (if any), any evidence you may have via text, messenger, or physical, and the other individual will be called at a separate time to do the same. If you want a "No Contact Order" against the other individual filed, you may do so at this time. It will go into effect once the other party has been notified and signed it. Once this step is done, the Title IX investigator assigned to your case will look at all details from both sides and determine if the other individual will be punished for their actions against you. Once they have reached a verdict, a draft report of a final report will be emailed you for your review. This is your time to bring up any evidence that you may have forgotten about, clarify anything that the investigator may have misjudged, etc. Then, there will be a hearing at which you may or may not choose to give an impact statement at. The other party will have the option to do so as well. At this hearing, you will hear the final verdict of your case, and subsequently be emailed a copy of the final report discussing the investigator's findings and explanation as to why they determined how the case was handled.

While there is no fixed time in which an investigation is required to be completed, there is guidance that says a "typical" investigation may take up to 60 days from initial report form you to final report from the investigator. Please note that more "complex" cases may take longer to complete.