Seyfarth Synopsis: On May 29, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held in Oldham v. Pennsylvania State Univ., No. 22-2056 (3d Cir. May 29, 2025) that Title IX may allow for claims by non-students and non-employees. In the Title IX context, as the court found, the "zone of interests" test requires the recipient of Title IX funds to (1) exercise substantial control over the individual who mistreats the plaintiff based on sex, and (2) have substantial control over the context in which the mistreatment occurred or manifested. With these requirements in mind, the Third Circuit ruled that a fencing coach, unaffiliated with Penn State, could sue the University for the misconduct of its employees in certain contexts.

Factual Background

In December 2017, Jennifer Oldham, a fencing coach from North Carolina, was sexually harassed by George Abashidze, an assistant fencing coach at Penn State, on a flight following a USA Fencing competition. Ms. Oldham reported the incident to her mentor, who informed Penn State's head fencing coach, Wieslaw Glon. Despite several meetings with Ms. Oldham, Mr. Glon refused to report the harassment to Penn State's Athletic Department and discouraged her from contacting SafeSport, an independent organization tasked with investigating sexual misconduct for USA Fencing.

Ms. Oldham chose not to report the incident, but unbeknownst to Ms. Oldham, the incident was later reported in 2018 to both Penn State and SafeSport. Both investigations...

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