My name is Joan Sessoms Ford. I am the Chief Attorney with
the United States Department of Education, Office for Civil
Rights (O.C.R.), Dallas Site. Through a member of our
Chicago office, I recently received a copy of your e-mail to
Susan J. Smith alleging sexually offensive activity and
retaliation at Texas A & M University. This e-mail is to
advise you that this Department has responsibility for
enforcing Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972
(Title IX) and its implementing regulation which prohibit
discrimination on the basis of sex. This year the OCR,
under its Title IX authority issued policy guidance which
explicitly provides information about the prohibitions
regarding sexual harassment under Title IX.
OCR has the responsibility of ensuring that recipients of
Federal financial assistance ( including public colleges and
universities) do not discriminate on the basis of sex. To
that end, we receive, and endeavor to resolve, complaints of
discrimination filed with us alleging discriminatory actions
by Federal recipients. If a complaint of discrimination
cannot be resolved informally, we have the authority to
initiate enforcement action against a Federal recipient.
If you would like to file a complaint with this office,
please do so by writing to:
Mr. Taylor D. August
Office for Civil Rights
U.S. Department of Education
1999 Bryan Street
26th Floor
Dallas, Texas 75201
Please provide as much factual information and detail about
the activities you believe are discriminatory
in order to provide us with the factual basis for your
belief that discrimination has occurred. If you send to me
a street address or fax number, I will be happy to provide
to you OCR materials regarding how to file a complaint with
this Office.
I may be contacted by telephone at 214/880-2491.
Sincerely,
Joan Sessoms Ford