From the PJMedia article “Female Lawyer Gets Tulane University to Stop Discriminating Against Men” by Toni Airaksinen:
Tulane University has agreed to stop financially discriminating against male students in an unprecedented response to a Title IX complaint made against the school. As PJ Media initially reported, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) launched an investigation into Tulane University in August amid concerns that six of the school’s scholarships violated Title IX, the 1972 law that prohibits sex discrimination.
The complaint was filed by Margaret C. Valois, a Virginia Title IX attorney and mother of two sons. Though she typically provides legal counsel to students accused of sexual misconduct, she said she was inspired to file the complaint to fight educational inequity. “Tulane’s implementation of Title IX provides greater educational opportunities for female students than for male students. When opportunities and benefits are offered to one group because of their sex… it is patently unfair,” said Valois at the time.
Four months later, Valois got unprecedented news. On December 14, Tulane University quietly entered into a resolution agreement with the OCR, which dictates that Tulane is now undertaking steps to ensure that financial assistance is fairly distributed.
“By September 6, 2019, the University will ensure that it is not treating male students differently on the basis of sex by providing different amounts of financial assistance, limiting eligibility for financial assistance… or otherwise discriminating with respect to financial assistance,” details the resolution agreement.
To help ensure this, Tulane also agreed to arrange training for all financial aid officers and other administrators to ensure “nondiscrimination in financial assistance” and nearly all other aspects of campus life. Tulane University will have until September 2019 to ensure compliance. From now on, OCR officials will monitor Tulane until the terms are met, and may send officers to campus to interview students, staff and administrators to assess progress.
While Valois is sympathetic to Title IX’s original goal of ensuring equity for women, Valois also argues that in many ways, men are not only underrepresented on college campuses, but also discriminated against in Title IX trials that violate due process.