We are pleased to share an important victory in the effort to hold federally funded schools accountable for ensuring equitable access to education by appropriately responding to reports of students experiencing sex-based discrimination, including intimate partner violence by individuals unaffiliated with the school.
Hall v. Millersville University arose out of a tragic loss of life.
In 2015, a female Millersville University student named Karlie Hall was murdered by her abuser in her dorm room. In the wake of her murder, Hall’s family filed a lawsuit alleging the school had prior knowledge of repeated abuse against Hall by her boyfriend, who was not a Millersville student. Despite this knowledge, the school failed to respond to the abuse in violation of Title IX.
The District Court, ruling on the school’s motion for summary judgment, ruled in favor of Hall’s family on each element of their Title IX claim that Millersville had been deliberately indifferent to the abuse of their daughter, except for one element — whether the school could be found liable when the abuser who murdered her was unaffiliated with the school.
Represented by All Rise Trial & Appellate and Laffey, Bucci & Kent, Hall’s family appealed to the Third Circuit and argued that under Title IX schools have a responsibility to act when they know students are being abused and when they have control of over the context of the abuse, and that there’s no categorical exception exempting schools from responding to abuse by students’ guests.
Attorneys at the Women’s Law Project and Public Justice filed an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in support of Hall’s family, arguing that dating violence is a form of sex-based harassment that, under Title IX, the school had a legal responsibility to address.
This week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued a ruling confirming that Millersville University can be held liable under Title IX for failing to protect Karlie Hall. This decision recognizes and affirms critical Title IX sex discrimination protections for victims of stalking and sexual, domestic, and dating violence.
As noted in the opinion, none of the other U.S. Courts of Appeals around the country have addressed the issue of how Title IX applies to situations involving sex-based discrimination, harassment, or abuse perpetrated by an individual unaffiliated with the school.
It is now clear: If a school is aware that one of its students faces serious, ongoing sex-based discrimination, harassment, or violence and if the school has the power to act, the school cannot fail to respond just because the danger is posed by a person who is an unaffiliated third-party.
Women’s Law Project is a public interest law center in Pennsylvania devoted to advancing and defending the rights of women, girls, and LGBTQ+ people in Pennsylvania and beyond. As a non-profit organization, we can not do this work without you. Please consider supporting our work.
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