Update on UMBC’s Settlement Agreement with the DOJ

Spring 2026

In April 2024, UMBC voluntarily entered into an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to improve significantly the university’s work to prevent and respond to reports of sexual misconduct and sex discrimination under Title IX. The agreement came as the result of a lengthy investigation by the DOJ into UMBC’s Title IX compliance. 

The agreement committed UMBC to continue to implement measures to enhance the strength, accountability, and independence of the university’s Title IX office; provide specific support for student-athletes and the Athletics Department staff who serve them; expand training for students and employees to improve UMBC’s prevention and response to sex discrimination; and provide financial relief to certain current and former members of the Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving team, as determined by the DOJ. The agreement requires regular reporting by UMBC to the DOJ and will remain in effect through the 2028-2029 academic year.

The University has fully implemented all of the initial provisions of the agreement and remains in the monitoring phase of the agreement. 

The update below provides a detailed report of our progress since the Fall 2025 update. 

Policies and Processes

The university continues to review and refine its policies and processes as needed. Among them: 

• In January 2026, ECR completed its fourth biannual review of all reports of sex discrimination received in the preceding six months to determine whether the university had met its obligations; the Title IX coordinator conducted these reviews, confirming compliance and identifying report trends and recommendations for action. 
• ECR and the Office of Health Promotions continues to work with the Coordinated Community Response Team (CCRT) to implement the feedback around sexual violence prevention and response obtained as part of its participation in NASPA’s Culture of Respect Collective (Cohort 9). 

Coordination of Campus Resources

• ECR and the Office of Community and Culture formalized a written protocol regarding the use of restorative practices as an informal resolution method.
• The Coordinated Community Response Team continued to meet and work through its subcommittees. One subcommittee is specifically focused on devising policies, procedures, MOUs, and protocols among CCRT-represented offices to facilitate/streamline information-sharing and improve coordination across ECR and other partners on the CCRT team (e.g., Student Conduct, Office of Accessibility and Disability Services, Retriever Care, Retriever Integrated Health, etc.) and developing communication strategies and awareness campaigns about new procedures and policies.
• The University continues to enhance collaboration among ECR and campus partners, including, but not limited to, the Athletics Department, the Women’s, Gender, and Equity Center, the Office of the Provost, and the Office of General Counsel to respond to reports of sex discrimination.

Training

• ECR continues to ensure that students and employees complete the annual mandatory Title IX training for all students and mandatory training for faculty and staff (to include student employees). Training compliance numbers, as of April 13, 2026, are as follows:

Annual Mandatory Student Training:

• Undergraduate Students: 95% (10,743/11,339)
• Graduate Students: 97% (2,493/2,562)

Annual Mandatory Employee Training:

• UMBC Employees: 94% (4,539/4,823)

• Mandatory training sessions for Athletics staff, to include coaches and administrators, continue to be facilitated by ECR. 
• ECR continues to provide supplemental training to various groups across campus upon request. This included training specifically for individuals designated as confidential resources to include Retriever Integrated Health staff and members of the Religious Council. 

Prevention and Educational Programming

• Campus-wide prevention programming and education activities, led by the Women’s, Gender, and Equity Center, the Office of Health Promotions, and the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards, continue to be offered during the 2025-2026 academic year. 
• A CCRT subcommittee on programming and campus initiatives was created to focus on prevention, response, and awareness campaigns, to review trends across campus to identify gaps or barriers to campus support, and to enhance collaboration, communication, and coordination of UMBC’s campus-wide response to sex-based harassment and related climate needs. 
• The Women’s, Gender, and Equity Center, ECR, and the Athletics Department started a new collaboration to support student-athletes. The Student Athlete Collective serves to provide dedicated opportunities for connection among student-athletes and key campus partners through a weekly, confidential, facilitated open forum/community dialogue circle centered on issues related to identity, balance, and belonging as a student-athlete. In addition, there are weekly opportunities for student-athletes to receive confidential one-on-one support from a survivor or respondent advocate within the Women’s, Gender, and Equity Center. 

End-of-Season Surveys and Feedback from Student-Athletes

• UMBC continues to administer its end-of-season survey to student-athletes at the end of each season. The survey results are reviewed by the director of athletics and any concerns related to sex discrimination or harassment are shared with ECR. 

Sexual Misconduct Campus Climate Survey

• ECR is preparing to launch its biennial sexual misconduct campus climate survey in April 2026.

Monitoring

• UMBC submitted its fourth monitoring report to the DOJ covering the period of July 1, 2025 to December 31, 2025. This report provided a summary of the university’s progress in meeting the terms of the settlement agreement. The report also included the results of the Title IX Coordinator’s biannual review of the university’s response to all sex discrimination reports and identified trends in reporting.