School district not liable under Title IX for harassing Facebook comments posted by students off-campus — Doe v. Round Valley Unified School District, 2012 WL 2064382 (D. Ariz. June 7, 2012)

Is a school liable under Title IX for student-on-student sexual harassment in the form of Facebook posts?  Apparently not, if the posting occurred outside of the “context” of the school.

To bring a Title IX claim against a school for student-on-student sex harassment, one element the student-victim must prove is that the school exercised substantial control over both the harasser and the context in which the known harassment occurred.  In Doe v. Round Valley Unified School District, a female student (Jane Doe) alleged that a male classmate (Rance Allen) sexually assaulted her on three occasions and was abusive toward her in other ways, such as by making disparaging comments about her on Facebook.  After Doe and her parents reported Rance to the police, which led to his arrest and indictment for sexual misconduct, students at the school allegedly criticized Doe on Facebook, making Doe fearful of attending school.  For example, some female students said they wanted to “kick [Doe’s] ass” because they thought Rance’s arrest was unfair.

Doe brought a Title IX claim against the school district.  The Arizona federal district court found the claim faulty on several grounds, including that harassing Facebook postings did not necessarily occur in a “context” over which the school district had substantial control over the harasser.  In a footnote, the court noted that Facebook comments may not be within the school district’s control  if the students posted them off-campus or on their personal computers or phones.

LegalTXT Lesson:  A school district can only do so much to limit student activity off-campus, but it can, and should, take steps to deter abusive social media use occurring on campus, such as by setting rules on when students may use school equipment to access their social media accounts.