Graduation Semester and Year
Fall 2026
Language
English
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
Department
Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
First Advisor
Dr. Merideth Billings
Second Advisor
Dr. Ericka Roland
Third Advisor
Dr. Catherine Robert
Abstract
This study examines how Title IX administrators exercise discretion when responding to ambiguous sexual misconduct reports referred to as yellow zone. The 2020 Title IX Rules and Regulations introduced a more restrictive definition of sexual misconduct, requiring behavior to be severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive (SPOO) to meet the threshold for formal institutional response. Despite the practical challenges these cases present for institutions, there is limited scholarly understanding of how Title IX administrators make decisions when responding to them. Guided by street-level bureaucracy theory (Lipsky, 1969, 1980, 2010), the study explored how institutional actors exercise discretion in response to regulatory pressures and organizational constraints. Using a phenomenological research design, I conducted semi-structured interviews with six Title IX professionals at two time-points from multiple four-year institutions. The findings indicate that administrator discretion is constrained by institutional leadership structures and by the formalized definitions embedded in federal policy. In response, administrators adapt their approaches through increased transparency in procedural communication and the use of informal practices to address yellow zone cases. These findings reveal that Title IX administrators’ discretion increasingly operates through less visible mechanisms shaped by organizational context. The study contributes to scholarship on policy implementation in higher education by illuminating how frontline administrators interpret and operationalize regulatory standards in complex and ambiguous cases.
Keywords
Title IX, Sexual misconduct, Policy, Institutional courage, Street level bureaucrat
Disciplines
Educational Administration and Supervision | Higher Education
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Hobbs, Angela E., "Navigating Yellow Zone Sexual Misconduct Cases: Exploring Title IX Administrators’ Discretion" (2026). Educational Leadership & Policy Studies Dissertations. 1.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/edleadershippolicy_dissertations2/1