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Case: 19-3275Document: 51Page: 12Date Filed: 03/04/2021Kayla Patrick & Neena Chaudhry,Nat’l Women’s Law Ctr., Let Her Learn: Stopping School Pushoutfor Girls Who Have Suffered Harassment and Sexual Violence om/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/final nwlc Gates HarassmentViolence.pdf . 15Christina Policastro & Mary A. Finn,Coercive Control in Intimate Relationships: Differences Across Ageand Sex, 36 J. Interpersonal Violence 1520 (2021) . 11Lauren A. Reed,Gender Matters: Experiences and Consequences of Digital Dating AbuseVictimization in Adolescent Dating Relationships, 59 J. Adolescence 79(2017) . 7H. Juz McNaughton Reyes et al.,Gender Role Attitudes and Male Adolescent Dating ViolencePerpetration: Normative Beliefs as Moderators, 45 J. YouthAdolescence 350 (2016) . 20M. Christina Santana et al.,Masculine Gender Roles Associated with Increased Sexual Risk andIntimate Partner Violence Perpetration among Young Adult Men,83 J. Urb. Health 575 (2006) . 21Sharon G. Smith et al.,Ctrs. for Disease Control & Prevention, The National IntimatePartner and Sexual Violence Survey (2018), a-brief508.pdf . 10Thomas D. Snyder et al.,U.S. Dep’t of Educ., NCES 2020-009, Digest of Education Statistics2018 (2019), https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2020/2020009.pdf . 12Jan E. Stets & Maureen A. Pirog-Good,Violence in Dating Relationships, 50 Soc. Psych. Q. 237 (1987) . 12xi

Case: 19-3275Document: 51Page: 13Date Filed: 03/04/2021United Nations Off. on Drugs & Crime,Global Study on Homicide (2018), GSH2018/GSH18 Gender-related killing ofwomen and girls.pdf . 11Lenore E.A. Walker,Psychology and Violence Against Women, 44 Am. Psych. 695 (1989) . 13xii

Case: 19-3275Document: 51Page: 14Date Filed: 03/04/2021STATEMENT OF INTEREST OF THE AMICI CURIAEAmici curiae are 31 public-interest organizations dedicated to ensuring thatall students are educated in safe and supportive learning environments that are freefrom harassment and other forms of discrimination. Due to the prevalence ofsex-based harassment, which includes dating violence, and given its devastatingeffect on victims, amici seek to ensure that educational institutions promptly andeffectively respond to sex-based harassment, including dating violence.Amici have significant expertise on these issues. Some provide direct servicesto victims of sex-based harassment, including victims of dating violence. Theseservices include crisis intervention and counseling, assistance navigating judicialand quasi-judicial systems, and representing survivors in those systems. Many amiciengage in policy advocacy to improve institutional responses to sex-basedharassment by advocating for law reform, by designing and implementing programsto improve societal understanding of the prevalence and seriousness of sex-basedharassment, and by advocating for best practices to remedy sex-based harassment.Amici share their expertise in this brief in support of a determination that Title IX ofthe Education Amendments of 1972 requires covered educational programs to takecorrective action whenever they have actual notice of, and can take action inresponse to, sex-based harassment, including dating violence.1

Case: 19-3275Document: 51Page: 15Date Filed: 03/04/2021The identities of the amici curiae are as follows: American Association ofUniversity Women; Bucks County Women’s Advocacy Coalition; CaliforniaWomen’s Law Center; Champion Women; Education Law Center—Pennsylvania;Equal Rights Advocates; Feminist Majority Foundation; Gender Equality LawCenter, Inc.; Gender Justice; Girls for Gender Equity; Girls Inc.; Legal Voice;National Council of Jewish Women, Pittsburgh Section; National Crime Victim LawInstitute; National Crittenton; National Network to End Domestic Violence;National Organization for Women Foundation; National Women’s Law Center;Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Organization for Women; PennsylvaniaCoalition Against Domestic Violence; Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape; PublicJustice; Sexual Violence Law Center; Southwest Women’s Law Center; Stop SexualAssault in Schools; WOAR—Philadelphia Center Against Sexual Violence; WomenAgainst Abuse; the Women and Girls Foundation of Southwest Pennsylvania;Women Lawyers On Guard Inc.; the Women’s Law Center of Maryland, Inc.; andWomen’s Law Project.Individual statements of interest for each amicus are included as an addendumto this brief. Once the Court grants amici leave to file this brief, amici are authorizedto file this brief under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 29(a)(2).2

Case: 19-3275Document: 51Page: 16Date Filed: 03/04/2021No counsel for a party authored this brief in whole or in part, and no one otherthan amici and their counsel made any monetary contribution toward this brief’spreparation or submission.3

Case: 19-3275Document: 51Page: 17Date Filed: 03/04/2021SUMMARY OF ARGUMENTDating violence, a form of sex-based harassment, often places a victim in acycle of escalating danger. What begins as subtle disrespect and isolation rooted insex-based stereotypes escalates to physical injuries or sexual abuse. When a victimtries to leave a dating relationship, the abuser often becomes more violent, and thevictim may choose to stay in the relationship for her own safety. As the cycle ofabuse continues, the potential danger to the victim intensifies. Too often, it becomeslethal.Young women and girls are particularly vulnerable to dating violence. Andbecause many are students at the time the abuse occurs, they experience not just theemotional and physical abuse and danger, but also detrimental educationalconsequences. For that reason, Title IX requires schools to take corrective action inresponse to reported dating violence.Here, Millersville University failed to meet its Title IX obligations. TheUniversity had actual knowledge of the dating violence at issue; the University hadsubstantial control over both the context of the reported dating violence and theabuser; the dating violence was sex-based, severe, pervasive, and objectivelyoffensive; and the University took no action to respond. Because MillersvilleUniversity was deliberately indifferent to the reported dating violence—ultimately4

Case: 19-3275Document: 51Page: 18Date Filed: 03/04/2021costing one of its students her life, the most profound educational deprivationimaginable—the University violated Title IX.For these reasons, as well as those set forth in Appellant’s Brief, the DistrictCourt’s order should be reversed.5

Case: 19-3275Document: 51Page: 19Date Filed: 03/04/2021ARGUMENTThis case is about the murder of a Millersville University student that theUniversity should have taken action to prevent. Gregorio (Greg) Orrostieta killedKarlie Hall in her Millersville University dorm room, after the University had actualknowledge that Karlie was a victim of dating violence, and after the University tookno steps to prevent further harm to Karlie.Dating violence is a dangerous and sometimes lethal form of sex-basedviolence. Under Title IX, when a university has notice of the dating violence andcontrol over the perpetrator and the context of the violence, it must take steps toprevent further harm. Millersville University failed to do so in violation of Title IX.I.Dating Violence Is a Dangerous, Sometimes Lethal, Form ofSex-Based Harassment that Frequently Targets Young Women andGirls and Results in Adverse Emotional, Physical, and EducationalConsequences.Dating violence is a form of sex-based harassment that often places the victimin a cycle of escalating danger. Unfortunately, students—especially young womenand girls—are frequent victims. Consequences for these vulnerable individualsinclude not just the emotional and physical abuse and danger, but also detrimentaleducational consequences.6

Case: 19-3275Document: 51Page: 20Date Filed: 03/04/2021A. Dating violence is characterized by escalating cycles of abuse.Dating violence is violence committed by a person “who is or has been in asocial relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim.” 34 U.S.C.§ 12291(a)(10). A variant of intimate partner violence, dating violence includesrepeated and ongoing instances of physical, psychological, and sexual aggressionperpetrated by a romantic partner.1 It may begin with subtle forms of control andnegative behaviors (e.g., targeted disrespect, humiliation, and isolation), and thenescalate to more serious forms of abuse (e.g., stalking and electronic or cyber abuse,including unilaterally sharing sexual photos with others).2 The abuse can then1See generally Peter Jaffe et al., Youth Dating Violence and Homicide, inAdolescent Dating Violence: Theory, Research and Prevention 191 (David A. Wolfe& Jeff R. Temple eds., 2018), available at B9780128117972000086.2Id. at 191; Bonnie Leadbeater et al., Changing Your Status in a ChangingWorld: It Is Complicated!, in Adolescent Dating Violence: Theory, Research andPrevention 3, 5-6 (David A. Wolfe & Jeff R. Temple eds., 2018), available at B9780128117972000013;PriscillaOffenhauer & Alice Buchalter, Libr. of Cong., Teen Dating Violence: A LiteratureReview and Annotated Bibliography 7-9 (2011) f; Lauren A. Reed, Gender Matters: Experiences andConsequences of Digital Dating Abuse Victimization in Adolescent DatingRelationships, 59 J. Adolescence 79, 80 (2017).7

Case: 19-3275Document: 51Page: 21Date Filed: 03/04/2021escalate further, with dangerous consequences for the victim such as physicalinjuries, sexual abuse, forced isolation, and even murder.3Victims are often most at risk when they attempt to leave the abusiverelationship. Often the violent partner reacts to separation by escalating violence,thereby punishing and controlling the partner trying to escape.4 In fact, “at themoment of separation or attempted separation—for many women, the first encounterwith the authority of law—the batterer’s quest for control often becomes mostacutely violent and potentially lethal.”5 The data bear this out: one study found thatthe most common risk factor for a male dating partner killing his female datingpartner was her desire to end the relationship (or her having recently ended therelationship).6 For this and other reasons, young women often remain in a dating3Jaffe et al., supra note 1, at 191; Offenhauer & Buchalter, supra note 2, at3-4.4See Martha R. Mahoney, Legal Images of Battered Women: Redefining theIssue of Separation, 90 Mich. L. Rev. 1, 5-6 (1991).5Id.6Tamera Coyne-Beasley et al., Adolescent Femicide: A Population-BasedStudy, 157 Archives Pediatrics & Adolescent Med. 355, 355-56 (2003), llarticle/481305.8

Case: 19-3275Document: 51Page: 22Date Filed: 03/04/2021relationship after their dating partner acts violently, 7 sometimes as a survivalstrategy.8Because of the dangers involved in intimate partner violence and leaving aviolent relationship, community resources are vitally important for this population,who may be unable or unwilling to ask for assistance from their families, especiallywhen dating relationships become violent.9 This is particularly true for studentsliving on university campuses, who are more likely to be isolated (physically orotherwise) from their families.107See Teresa M. Bethke & David M. DeJoy, An Experimental Study of FactorsInfluencing the Acceptability of Dating Violence, 8 J. Interpersonal Violence 36, 37(1993) (citing extensive research finding that only about 50 percent of victimsterminate their relationships following violence).Dee L.R. Graham et al., A Scale for Identifying “Stockholm Syndrome”Reactions in Young Dating Women: Factor Structure, Reliability, and Validity, 10Violence & Victims 3, 3-6, 17-18 (1995).89Roger J.R. Levesque, Dating Violence, Adolescents, and the Law, 4 Va. J.Soc. Pol’y & L. 339, 348 (1997).10See Patricia Noller & Victor Callan, The Adolescent in the Family 5-6 (1sted. 1991).9

Case: 19-3275Document: 51Page: 23Date Filed: 03/04/2021B. Dating violence is all too common, and too often ends in murder,especially among school-aged women and girls.Sadly, dating violence is exceedingly common. Even the most conservativenumbers indicate that, each year, intimate partners victimize millions of women. 11In 2007 alone, an estimated 1,640 women were murdered by their intimatepartners,12 accounting for more than 40 percent of all women killed that year.13Globally, approximately 47 percent of all female homicide vi

ii CORPORATE DISCLOSURE STATEMENT As required under Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure 26.1 and 29(a)(4)(A), undersigned counsel for amici curiae 31 Organizations Dedicated to Improving Educational Institutions’ Responses to Dating Violence, states that amici are public-interest organizat