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Educators, including school leaders, must be able to handle legal dilemmas involving student speech, but these do not occur in a vacuum. Often, speech issues are commingled with other legal challenges. This article explores student rights beyond free speech that are guaranteed at PK-12 U.S. public schools. We clarify when educators must attend to students’ unique needs, especially when courts have identified that certain students are members of protected classes. This article explains the overarching constitutional framework in which the U.S. Supreme Court has applied the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause to protect the rights of students to be free from invidious discrimination. We describe how modern U.S. courts apply levels of review, including strict scrutiny, intermediate scrutiny, and rational basis review to equal protection cases. We then synthesize federal statutory law and case law that protect students. Specifically, we discuss how Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI 1964) prohibits discrimination based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, language proficiency, and religion. Next, we delve into the recent changes relevant to the application of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX 1972) to students based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Our final focus covers students with disabilities, including medical conditions, who are protected by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 1990) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (Section 504 1973). Full article

Per Title IX of the Higher Education Amendments of 1972, many university employees are mandated reporters of sexual assault. University employees (N = 174) and students (N = 783) completed an online survey assessing knowledge and opinions of this reporting requirement. University employees and students generally reported being quite knowledgeable of reporting requirements. Most university employees indicated they would report an incident disclosed by a student, but students were fairly ambivalent about whether they would disclose to faculty members. Nearly one in five students (17.2%) indicated that Title IX reporting requirements decreased their disclosure likelihood. These findings suggest that mandated reporting policies, as well as how they are presented to students and faculty, should be examined in order to increase compliance and facilitate disclosure. Full article