Education civil rights enforcement for sexual violence slows, filings turn to lawsuits or wait
The Education Department’s civil rights enforcement for school-related sexual violence has slowed sharply since the office overseeing those cases was weakened by large staff reductions, according to internal data obtained by The Associated Press. The Office for Civil Rights was once described by advocates and lawyers as a powerful federal lever for schools and universities that mishandled sexual-assault complaints involving students.
The office’s caseload now includes far fewer new sexual-violence investigations, AP reported, while also operating with a significant backlog of other civil-rights complaints. The scale of the reduction has practical consequences for students—advocates said many have few alternatives besides filing lawsuits or stopping their efforts to pursue accountability through the federal process.
AP reported that Office for Civil Rights investigations into sexual violence have dwindled to fewer than 10 nationwide since the staff cuts that began last March, after the office had been opening “dozens” of sexual-violence investigations per year before the layoffs. The Associated Press said its estimate for the post-layoffs period came from internal data.
Alongside the reduced investigations into sexual violence, the office’s work on broader discrimination claims has been strained by staffing reductions. AP reported that Office for Civil Rights was “gutted” in Trump’s mass layoffs last year, leaving half as many lawyers to investigate discrimination complaints based on race, sex or disability in schools. Those staffing limits, AP said, have contributed to a backlog of more than 25,000 cases.
While the number of sexual-violence investigations fell, AP reported that the administration increased its focus on another category of Title IX enforcement. Trump officials have used Title IX, a 1972 gender equality law, against schools that make accommodations for transgender students and athletes, and AP reported the office has opened nearly 50 investigations of that kind since Trump took office a year ago.
Officials with the Education Department said the office is still working through its caseload. In response to the AP reporting, spokesperson Julie Hartman said the Trump administration has restored safeguards against sexual violence and that the office “is and will continue to safeguard the dignity and safety of our nation’s students,” AP reported.
In the view of lawyers who represent students, the slowdown has helped create a sense that complaints are not translating into timely outcomes. Katie McKay, a lawyer at the New York firm C.A. Goldberg, told AP: “It almost feels like you’re up against the void,” and added, “It feels like a big question mark right now.” She said the issue for families is how to hold schools accountable once an investigation path appears to have stalled.
AP also reported that some firms that handle Title IX matters have stopped filing complaints with Office for Civil Rights. It described the move as a response to what lawyers said is a dead end—particularly for sexual-violence cases—after delays and uncertainty about investigation timelines.
The reduced federal enforcement affects a wide set of students, AP said, including both victims and students accused of wrongdoing. AP described at least one case involving a woman who said she filed a complaint in 2024 alleging her graduate school failed to follow its own policies after she was sexually assaulted by another student and the school suspended rather than expelling the accused student. She said no one contacted her about the complaint since 2024, and she later sued her school instead.
The Education Department’s civil rights office is expected to offer a route other than litigation for people who believe a school violated federal law. Anyone can file a complaint that can trigger an investigation and sanctions for schools that fail to comply with federal civil rights requirements, according to AP’s description of the office’s role. AP reported that in 2024 the department received more than 1,000 complaints involving sexual violence or sexual harassment, citing an annual report.
AP said it is unclear how many complaints have been filed in more recent months, because the administration has not reported newer figures. Some staff members, AP reported in conversations, said cases were piling up so quickly that they could not track how many involve sexual violence.
The article also pointed to examples of what federal investigations have previously produced. AP reported that before Trump was elected to a second term, the Office for Civil Rights had more than 300 pending sexual-assault investigations, according to a public database, and that most were believed to be sitting idle as investigators prioritized easier complaints. It cited prior actions such as a Pennsylvania school system being required to designate a Title IX coordinator and review prior complaints after a girl with a disability said a bus driver sexually touched her; and a Montana case in which AP said the office demanded changes after a boy was pinned down and assaulted following wrestling practice and school officials treated it as hazing.
AP also described changes in how cases can end. It reported that sexual-violence complaints may be dismissed if they do not meet legal requirements, handled through mediation, or result in voluntary agreements from schools to address past wrongdoing and prevent future harm. AP said that under Biden in 2024, the office secured 23 voluntary agreements in cases involving sexual violence, according to a public database, while in 2018 there were 58 during Trump’s first term and that since Trump took office again last year there have been none.
Lawyers representing students accused of misconduct also described skepticism about the pace of the process. Justin Dillon, a Washington lawyer, told AP he tells clients not to “hold their breath” because cases, he said, could still drag on for years even before the layoffs. Other firms, AP said, stopped filing complaints years ago and instead sued schools directly, arguing the office was not delivering timely outcomes.
Some advocates said the consequences extend beyond enforcement. Laura Dunn, a civil rights lawyer who AP described as influential in getting the Obama administration to make campus sexual assault a priority, told AP: “All the progress survivors have made by sharing their story is being lost,” and added that she believes the country is being pushed back “more than 50 years.”
In December, AP reported that the Education Department acknowledged the civil rights backlog and announced that dozens of downsized workers would be brought back to the office amid a legal challenge to the layoffs. The return, AP reported, offered some hope to people with pending complaints, while department officials said they would continue pushing for the layoffs.