GUIDANCE FOR STUDENT PEER SEXUAL HARASSMENT - NOT

In 1997, the Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights (''OCR'') , enacted guidelines covering a school's obligation under Title IX for student-to-student peer sexual harassment. Although the guidelines we re promulgated duping a period of enormous uncertainty among the feder al courts over whether a school could be held liable for peer sexual h arassment under Title LY, the guidelines were written as if no controv ersy existed. As the agency responsible for implementing Title LY, the OCR's expertise could have weighed heavily in the coverage debate. In this note, Dan McBride argues that the OCR's guidelines merely codifi ed one side of the Title LY controversy without adding any Agency expe rtise to the issue of Title IX coverage. Therefore, McBride argues tha t courts reviewing the question of Title LY coverage should not grant much deference to the OCR guidelines. He goes on to address the diffic ult issues surrounding Title LX coverage of peer sexual harassment tha t should have been dealt with by the OCR McBride comments that, at roo t, there remain theoretical difficulties in applying Title VII case la w to Title LY: This note focuses on the theoretical problems underlyin g student peer sexual harassment and the issues that must be resolved for a sound Title IX policy.