If it feels like the ground is constantly shifting beneath higher ed legal teams—it’s because it is.
In this episode of Campus Docket, compliance consultant and former in-house counsel Courtney Bullard joins Scott Schneider and Eric Kelderman to unpack what she calls the “whirlwind” of today’s regulatory landscape. From the 2011 Title IX Dear Colleague letter to the current wave of Title VI investigations, Bullard offers both a timeline and a temperature check on how civil rights compliance has evolved, and how institutions are scrambling to keep up.
Title IX used to be a policy footnote. After 2011, it became a full-time job. Now, Title VI is following a similar arc. Institutions are being pulled into high-stakes investigations over antisemitism, DEI policies, and campus speech with little clarity and even less time to respond. The result? Compliance offices and general counsel alike are running on fumes.
Today’s Department of Education isn’t just investigating, it’s naming and shaming, freezing funds, and issuing press releases before resolution agreements are even signed. The pressure is both legal and political, and many campuses simply don’t have the bandwidth to process it all.
Bullard discusses with Schneider and Kelderman the rise of respondent litigation after the Obama-era Title IX push; the whiplash between 2020 and 2024 regs; the disproportionate political fixation on trans athletes; and how important it is for higher ed leaders to approach these challenges with nuance, empathy, and realistic expectations.
The Docket
- News on Legal Developments
- Additional Legal Concepts and Entities Referenced
- Title IX (gender equity in education)
- Title VI (discrimination based on race, color, and national origin in programs and activities that receive federal funds)
- Department of Education 2011 Dear Colleague Letter
- Office for Civil Rights (OCR)
- The Clery Act (1990)
