Sex Harassment in School.Should schools be liable? YES A bitterly divided Supreme Court affirmed in May the legal obligation of schools to protect students from sexual harassment sexual harassment, in law, verbal or physical behavior of a sexual nature, aimed at a particular person or group of people, especially in the workplace or in academic or other institutional settings, that is actionable, as in tort or under equal-opportunity statutes. by other students. The 5-to-4 decision marked an important turning point for education and for civil rights. It recognized that student-on-student sexual harassment not only disrupts a victim's ability to learn but may also violate Tide IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the law that bars sex discrimination in schools and colleges receiving federal funds Federal Funds Funds deposited to regional Federal Reserve Banks by commercial banks, including funds in excess of reserve requirements. Notes: These non-interest bearing deposits are lent out at the Fed funds rate to other banks unable to meet overnight reserve . The case involved a fifth-grade girl in Georgia who was subjected to months of taunting and unwanted touching by a boy who was eventually convicted of sexual battery. Despite repeated complaints, school officials refused to take action. The Court rightly said the harassment must be severe--distinguishing between illegal acts and everyday playground behavior. --EDITORIAL The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times NO Sexual harassment law is so vague that it can encompass any sexually related behavior or speech, from childish advances to practical jokes, that a reasonable person might find hostile or offensive. To avoid liability, school officials will have an incentive to monitor and punish far more sexual expression than the law actually forbids. Although the Supreme Court recently decided that schools could be liable in such cases, the dissenters dissenters: see nonconformists. had the better argument. The law's imprecision will force school administrators to operate in "a climate of fear," as Justice Anthony Kennedy This article is about the Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. For the Maryland senator, see Anthony Kennedy (Maryland). Anthony McLeod Kennedy (born July 23, 1936) has been an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court since 1988. wrote in his dissent, and will compel them to regulate even innocent behavior that is an inevitable part of growing up. For example, soon after the Department of Education said schools could be liable for peer sexual harassment, a North Carolina North Carolina, state in the SE United States. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean (E), South Carolina and Georgia (S), Tennessee (W), and Virginia (N). Facts and Figures Area, 52,586 sq mi (136,198 sq km). Pop. school suspended a 6-year-old boy who kissed a girl on the cheek. The decision could lead to the increased use of speech codes, to insure that one student's dirty joke or romantic overture doesn't become another student's hostile environment. But because speech codes raise serious First Amendment concerns, schools may be put on the razor's edge of liability. They risk being sued if they monitor their students' private lives and sued if they don't. --JEFFREY ROSEN Professor of Law George Washington University George Washington University, at Washington, D.C.; coeducational; chartered 1821 as Columbian College (one of the first nonsectarian colleges), opened 1822, became a university in 1873, renamed 1904. Times Op-Ed page |
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