National, State and Local Advocacy and Legal Aid for 55+
April 29, 2024 9:35 AM Subscribe
I returned to University to get my Master's degree at age 61. It turns out that the school seems to have ageist policies that some of my teachers (off the record) have confirm.
Outside of AARP, what other advocacy and legal aid groups are available to me.?
Does your local government have a department of aging or some such?
posted by kschang at 10:22 AM on April 29
posted by kschang at 10:22 AM on April 29
The ACLU sometimes takes on age discrimination matters. Whether they will take on your age discrimination matter, I don't know.
posted by jacquilynne at 10:48 AM on April 29
posted by jacquilynne at 10:48 AM on April 29
If this involves employment (e.g. not hiring older students for paid assistantships, etc.), you might want to consult an employment attorney (although they might not feel like it's worth it for e.g. part time student worker wages).
posted by mskyle at 11:22 AM on April 29
posted by mskyle at 11:22 AM on April 29
Also it might be useful to read through this how to make an Office of Civil Rights complaint fact sheet. You might want to submit a complaint to your university's civil rights office (often casually called a Title IX office even though Title IX only deals with discrimination based on sex) rather than with the OCR but the fact sheet gives you an idea of the kind of stuff that goes into a complaint.
posted by mskyle at 11:55 AM on April 29 [1 favorite]
posted by mskyle at 11:55 AM on April 29 [1 favorite]
Can you describe (even broadly) the issues you believe to be ageist? In what ways is the university treating older students differently from younger students? As noted above, this may help with providing specific recommendations for you.
posted by paper scissors sock at 4:11 PM on April 29 [3 favorites]
posted by paper scissors sock at 4:11 PM on April 29 [3 favorites]
Discrimination on the basis of age is prohibited in the US by Age Discrimination Act of 1975.
Ageism is widespread in higher education and the U.S. Department of Education has lots of information about this issue, including how to file a complaint with the OCR (Office of Civil Rights).
Your complaint must be filed within 180 days of the last act of discrimination. You may be considering using your institution’s grievance process, which if unsatisfactory can extend this window to file with OCR to within 60 days after completion of the institutional grievance process.
Many institutions will want to stick to internal processes - like how AICCU states "Most complaints should be resolved at the campus level." That is utter rubbish - I strongly encourage you to file your complaints back to back, starting with the institution and then OCR.
Each institution's process will vary - so the University of Cal system has a whole civil rights website and you can file a complaint online while many individual institution will also have an office, like California Poly at San Luis Obispo.
If you think that this may expose you to further harassment please understand that the OCR takes any form of retaliation, very, very seriously. You can be certain the institutions lawyers will sweat the details on avoiding that. You don't have to go this route alone - there is legal aid clinics, AARP (seriously - they got some pointy sticks) and ask around, you'll likely find other students in your situation. What this process does require is careful documentation - so start taking notes, and start a system to keep track of it all and put it in a special folder.
posted by zenon at 8:17 AM on April 30 [1 favorite]
Ageism is widespread in higher education and the U.S. Department of Education has lots of information about this issue, including how to file a complaint with the OCR (Office of Civil Rights).
Your complaint must be filed within 180 days of the last act of discrimination. You may be considering using your institution’s grievance process, which if unsatisfactory can extend this window to file with OCR to within 60 days after completion of the institutional grievance process.
Many institutions will want to stick to internal processes - like how AICCU states "Most complaints should be resolved at the campus level." That is utter rubbish - I strongly encourage you to file your complaints back to back, starting with the institution and then OCR.
Each institution's process will vary - so the University of Cal system has a whole civil rights website and you can file a complaint online while many individual institution will also have an office, like California Poly at San Luis Obispo.
If you think that this may expose you to further harassment please understand that the OCR takes any form of retaliation, very, very seriously. You can be certain the institutions lawyers will sweat the details on avoiding that. You don't have to go this route alone - there is legal aid clinics, AARP (seriously - they got some pointy sticks) and ask around, you'll likely find other students in your situation. What this process does require is careful documentation - so start taking notes, and start a system to keep track of it all and put it in a special folder.
posted by zenon at 8:17 AM on April 30 [1 favorite]
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posted by chesty_a_arthur at 10:15 AM on April 29 [2 favorites]