On March 9, 2023, a delegation of Title IX and NIL experts from The Drake Group (TDG) met with Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) staff members to ask for the assistance of OCR to ensure gender equity and compliance with Title IX in the new chaotic environment created by NIL (name, image, likeness) booster clubs (commonly referred to as “NIL collectives”) and the refusal of the NCAA to enforce its inducement and recruiting rules. Specifically, The Drake Group representatives provided OCR with an executive summary of the new NIL circumstances and specifically requested OCR to explicitly apply its existing guidance to the new NIL fact situations. TDG drafted the questions the schools and colleges were asking and suggested answers grounded in existing OCR Title IX guidance. The results of the meeting were disappointing because OCR suggested that it would take no action absent formal Title IX complaints.

See full TDG March 9 communication to OCR