Episode 76: Inside Federal Enforcement: Title IX, Title VI and Today's Legal Landscape from Former DOJ Leaders

The Department of Justice is more active than ever before. At the launch of the new academic school year, we are joined by two formidable legal minds from Salvatore Prescott Porter & Porter. Whitney Pellegrino is a seasoned architect of educational civil rights enforcement and strategic counsel for institutions nationwide. Veronica Percia is a dynamic litigator and former DOJ leader behind some of the most impactful Title IX and discrimination settlements in the country. Both of them bring deep experience and a profound dedication to advancing equity and education. Our conversation kicks off with two DEI updates from the DOJ before we share updates from ICS. Then, we launch into the experiences that have shaped Whitney and Veronica’s paths to working in civil rights, what makes working at the DOJ special, and insights into the current landscape and the changes we are seeing today. Next, we discuss what it looks like to be proactive in this space, distinguish between the abstract and specific implications, and look beyond the immediate implications of a complaint to understand what it is symptomatic of. Join us today to hear all this and more. 

Key Points From This Episode:

• Background on Whitney Pellegrino and Veronica Percia from Salvatore Prescott Porter & Porter. 
• The Bondi Memo issued to federal agencies responsible for enforcing civil rights laws.
• Stephanie Gallagher’s recent ruling and the impact it will have on DEI. 
• ICS updates including new higher ed and K-12 trainings and the Title VI policy blueprint.
• Whitney’s journey to the DOJ. 
• Veronica’s path to civil rights law. 
• What is unique about working at DOJ and what makes the job special. 
• The UMBC investigation that Veronica worked on. 
• Differences between OCR and DOJ enforcement tools and authority. 
• Insights on the current landscape, Title IX, and Title VI. 
• Why this is the time to be proactive and supply more civil rights compliance to students.
• Distinguishing between the law in the abstract and the law as it applies to you.
• Understanding that complaints relate to experiences and broader issues.
• What the best defenses to chaos actually are. 
• How Whitney and Veronica are supporting schools today.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Whitney Pellegrino on LinkedIn

Veronica Percia Salvatore Prescott Porter & Porter ICS Title IX Policy Blueprint

ICS Lawyer

Higher Ed Community Access

K-12 Community Access

Higher Ed Virtual Certified IX Training

K-12 Virtual Certified Title IX Training

ICS Blog

Courtney Bullard on X 

Learn about Becoming a Community Partner