Naomi Shatz (’08), Partner with Zalkind Duncan & Bernstein LLP, published testimony to the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights about her experience handling cases under the new Title IX regulations (effective August 14, 2020) and identified areas where the regulations can be improved (“Naomi Shatz Submits Testimony to Department of Education on Title IX Regulations,” Boston Lawyer Blog, June 11). “While the regulations have brought much-needed procedural protections, and more flexible resolutions to campus sexual misconduct adjudications, there is still room for improvement. After the first academic year handling cases under these new procedures, it is evident that in some important ways the regulations make the process more complicated, confusing, and lengthy than necessary. Returning to the ‘severe, persistent, or pervasive’ standard for hostile environment sexual harassment, requiring schools to have a single process to handle all cases of sexual misconduct, and clarifying how parties’ and witnesses’ statements can be used if those individuals do not appear at a hearing would make these processes both easier to navigate and fairer to both parties.”