District May Be Held Liable for Harassment, Court Rules

By Millicent Lawton

Reversing a lower-court ruling, a federal appeals court in Atlanta last week found that a school district can be held liable for the sexual harassment of one student by another.

The 2-1 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit said that under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 a district can be sued for money damages if school authorities know about but fail to act on a "sexually hostile educational environment" created by student-to-student sexual harassment.

Title IX forbids sex discrimination in educational institutions...

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