The U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has concluded that Troy University did not make reasonable and responsive adjustments responsive to a student’s pregnancy-related adjustment requests during the 2020-21 school year.
OCR had been investigating Troy regarding whether the school had responded to the student’s requests in a manner that complied with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
The student notified Troy of her pregnancy before the start of the fall 2020 semester, the investigation confirmed. There were repeated instances of negative consequences for the student stemming from a lack of accommodations for her pregnancy, such as not getting a proper size table for one of her classes.
The investigation also found that Troy’s Title IX coordinator did not consistently or timely intervene when alerted of issues with certain classes and that the lack of available information on getting pregnancy-related adjustments contributed to Troy’s uncoordinated response.
Troy will now commit to a number of actions to conclude the investigation, such as providing the student in question grade adjustments; giving reimbursement for expenses related to retaken courses; reviewing or drafting policies on requests for adjustments from pregnant students; updating the school website to give information on Title IX rights of pregnant students; and faculty and staff Title IX rights training.
“I thank Troy University for addressing the pregnancy-related needs of the student who came to OCR for help and for ensuring that, going forward, it will provide pregnant students equal access to the university’s courses and other offerings,” said Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine E. Lhamon.
