Title IX Defense at Florida Colleges and Universities

Written by Zachary Gaynor, attorney · The Florida Bar, admitted 2016 · court admissions. Reviewed 26 September 2026.

If you have been accused of sexual misconduct at a Florida college or university, three layers of rules decide how your case runs: the federal Title IX regulations, Florida’s student-conduct statute if your school is public, and your school’s own written procedure. The deadlines inside that process are measured in days. At a public school, the last one — 30 days to ask a court to review the final decision — runs whether or not anyone has told you about it.

Which Title IX rule applies in Florida right now?

The 2020 Title IX regulations govern. They are published at 85 Fed. Reg. 30026 and codified at 34 C.F.R. Part 106. The 2024 replacement rule is gone: the Eleventh Circuit blocked it in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina on August 22, 2024, and on January 9, 2025 a federal court in Kentucky vacated it nationwide in Tennessee v. Cardona, 762 F. Supp. 3d 615 (E.D. Ky. 2025). The Department of Education has said it enforces the 2020 rule, and on September 29, 2026 it went further: a final rule, effective that day, repealed the vacated 2024 text and recodified the 2020 framework in the Code of Federal Regulations. 91 Fed. Reg. 61,308 (Sept. 29, 2026). Which Title IX rule applies right now tracks any change.

For a college or university case, that means a formal complaint leads to an investigation, a written investigative report, and a live hearing at which each side’s advisor questions the other party and the witnesses. You do not ask the questions yourself. If you arrive without an advisor, the school must supply one, and the school chooses who it is. See Title IX hearings and cross-examination.

What Florida adds at a public college or university

Florida’s student-conduct statute, section 1006.60(3), Florida Statutes, applies to all 28 Florida College System institutions and all 12 state universities. It requires every code of conduct to give students, at minimum:

• written notice of the allegations and the specific code provision at least seven business days before the proceeding, and, at least five business days before it, a list of known witnesses and all known information about the allegation, including information that helps you;
• a presumption that no violation occurred, with the burden on the school to prove a violation by a preponderance of the evidence;
• an impartial hearing officer;
• the right to remain silent, and your silence may not be used against you;
• the right to present relevant information and to question witnesses;
• an advisor, advocate or lawyer at any proceeding, formal or informal, who may directly participate in all aspects of it, including questioning witnesses;
• an appeal to the vice president of student affairs or another designated senior administrator, who must hear it;
• an accurate and complete record of the proceeding, available for copying on request.

At the state universities, the Board of Governors’ student-conduct regulation, Regulation 6.0105, requires Title IX procedures that comply with the federal rule, including the live hearing with advisor-conducted cross-examination. For sexual misconduct that falls outside the federal definition, the same regulation lets each university choose between its general conduct process and its Title IX-style process. The rights differ materially between the two, so the first document to find is the one your university says it is using. Florida student defense covers the statute in more detail, and Florida schools has a page for each institution’s own process.

At a private Florida college, the policy is the contract

Private colleges and universities that take federal student aid — the University of Miami, Nova Southeastern, Stetson, Rollins and most others — must follow the 2020 Title IX rule for formal complaints. Florida’s student-conduct statute does not apply to them. Beyond Title IX, Florida has treated the relationship between a private school and its student as contractual since John B. Stetson University v. Hunt, 102 So. 637 (Fla. 1924), and courts enforce the specific promises in a school’s published policies rather than its general statements of values (Tercier v. University of Miami, No. 3D22-1334 (Fla. 3d DCA Aug. 2, 2023)).

In Doe v. Rollins College, 77 F.4th 1340 (11th Cir. 2023), the Eleventh Circuit rejected a student’s Title IX claims but left for a jury whether the college had breached its own policy by taking longer than the 60 days it promised to resolve the case. The steps and time limits your school wrote down are part of the defense.

The cases that run alongside: police, injunctions, and what you say

A campus Title IX case often has company. There may be a police investigation, and the other student may ask a Florida circuit court for a civil injunction: for dating violence or sexual violence under section 784.046, for stalking or cyberstalking under section 784.0485, or for domestic violence between family or household members under section 741.30. A stalking injunction can be entered on a temporary basis before you have been heard, for up to 15 days, until a full hearing is held.

Each proceeding makes its own record, and what you say in one can be used in the others. The campus case usually does not wait for the criminal one. At a public school, Florida law protects your right to stay silent in the campus proceeding without that silence being held against you. Whether to use it, and when to give your account, is a decision to make with a lawyer who can see all of the proceedings at once, working with your criminal defense lawyer if there is a criminal case.

After the decision: the appeal, then 30 days

Under the 2020 rule, both parties can appeal on at least three grounds: a procedural irregularity that affected the outcome, new evidence that was not reasonably available at the time and could affect the outcome, and a conflict of interest or bias that affected the outcome. The deadline comes from your school’s procedure and is usually a matter of days. See Title IX appeals.

At a public Florida college or university, the next step is a petition for a writ of certiorari in the circuit court, not an appeal to a district court of appeal, and it must be filed within 30 days of the final decision (Fla. R. App. P. 9.100(c); Louis v. University of South Florida, 181 So. 3d 578 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016)). The court decides on the record made on campus: whether you received procedural due process, whether the essential requirements of law were observed, and whether competent substantial evidence supports the findings. In Florida International University v. Ramos, No. 3D21-1281 (Fla. 3d DCA Oct. 20, 2021), a plagiarism case, the circuit court quashed a finding against a student who had been barred from questioning the accusing witness about bias, and the Third District left that ruling in place.

That petition matters for federal claims too. In Doe v. Valencia College, 903 F.3d 1220 (11th Cir. 2018), the Eleventh Circuit rejected a suspended student’s federal procedural due process claim because Florida’s certiorari review was an adequate remedy. At a Florida public school, the state-court petition is the remedy for an unfair process, and the 30 days do not wait while you decide whether to sue.

A federal Title IX lawsuit is a different and harder claim. In the Eleventh Circuit, the student must allege facts that permit a reasonable inference that the school discriminated on the basis of sex; procedural mistakes, or a process tilted toward complainants, are not enough on their own (Doe v. Samford University, 29 F.4th 675 (11th Cir. 2022)). See can you sue your university.

What I do in a Florida Title IX case

• Read the notice, the policy the school says it is using, and everything you have, and identify which set of rights applies.
• Prepare you for the investigative interview and attend it as your advisor.
• Review the evidence file and write the response the rule allows before the investigative report is final.
• Serve as your advisor at the live hearing and conduct the cross-examination.
• Argue the sanction and file the appeal.
• At a public school, file the certiorari petition in circuit court within the 30 days.
• Work with your criminal defense lawyer when there is a parallel case.

I am a Florida-licensed lawyer based in Boca Raton, and I represent students at public and private schools across the state. My fees are published on the Fees and Scope of Services page. The specific charges have their own pages: stalking, dating violence, domestic violence, and off-campus conduct and social media.

Common questions

Can my lawyer question witnesses at a Florida university Title IX hearing?

Yes. Under the 2020 rule, cross-examination at a college hearing is conducted by each party’s advisor, and your advisor can be a lawyer. At a Florida public school, the student-conduct statute goes further for proceedings under the code of conduct: a lawyer may directly participate in all aspects of the proceeding, formal or informal. Outside the hearing, check what your school’s Title IX procedure permits.

Does a Florida school have to wait for the criminal case?

No rule requires it to, and in practice it usually will not. That is why the timing of any statement you give matters.

Should I talk to the Title IX investigator?

Not before you know what else is pending. Your account usually matters, but when and how you give it depends on whether there is a police investigation or an injunction petition, because statements travel between proceedings. At a public school, your silence may not be used against you in the campus case.

Can a Florida school discipline me for something that happened off campus?

Often, yes. The Eleventh Circuit has held that there is no absolute bar against disciplining a student for off-campus conduct that invades another student’s rights (Doe v. Valencia College). Conduct outside the federal Title IX definition is usually charged under the code of conduct instead, under that code’s procedure.

How long do I have to go to court after a final decision at a public school?

Thirty days from the final decision, by petition for certiorari in the circuit court. Nothing pauses it.

Do you represent students who reported misconduct?

Yes, where there is no conflict. Complainants have their own rights to an advisor, to the evidence, and to appeal, and the process can be just as hard to navigate from that side.

If you have received a notice from a Florida school, the most useful time to get advice is before the first meeting. Contact me.

This is general information about Title IX matters at Florida schools, not legal advice about your case. Whether any claim exists depends on your record, your institution and your deadlines, and deadlines can be short.