It’s officially been over a month since Betsy DeVos, the current United States Secretary of Education, announced she would be rescinding part of Title IX. What has this meant for Loyola students?
What is Title IX?
As part of the 1972 Education Amendments, Title IX is the ordinance that prohibits sexual discrimination in any educational institute that accepts federal funding. It legally requires schools to answer complaints of sexual harassment, assault, or violence, to establish the safety and comfort of the survivor (including that they not share spaces, such as classrooms or dorms, with their attacker), and to take pro-active measures in ensuring that sexual discrimination does not occur. Title IX does not apply to women only and it is helped along in it’s power with Supreme Court rulings and state legislature. There are several informative websites available if one like to look further into it.
What has been rolled back?
In 2011, the Obama Administration released the Title IX Guidance “Dear Colleague Letter,” which laid out guidelines on legal obligations schools needed to take while addressing sexual violence. It famously called for a mentality change on campuses and pushed for an outlook where the survivor was always believed, no matter the circumstance. A further “Q&A on Title IX and Sexual Violence” was issued by the Department of Education in 2014.
Incredibly controversial, the guidelines remained in place until September 22, 2017, when DeVos reversed them and signed off on a new “Dear Colleague” letter. It says that the Obama-era legislature, “Led to the deprivation of rights for many students–both accused students denied fair process and survivors denied an adequate resolution of their complaints.”
As an effort to make filing a sexual-misconduct claim more equitable, schools must now maintain the same standard of evidence for evaluating an allegation that they would in other student misconduct cases. While this does raise the threshold of evidence required, it still does not put it at the same level needed in a criminally tried case.
Additionally, institutions must also grant the same protections to both parties involved. This means that anything granted to the survivor or accused, such as excused educational absences, protection from campus safety, or counseling must be offered to the other person as well.
The current administration has also published a Q&A for campuses and students with further questions.
What is staying the same?
None of the reversed guidelines change the fact that schools must respond to sexual assault and harassment claims on campus. Moreover, every federally-funded educational institution must also provide a Title IX coordinator to meet with students and employees and to handle any claims brought up.
What is Loyola’s official stance?
A statement from the Office of the President reads, “Loyola University Chicago wants to affirm that its current policies and procedures related to gender-based misconduct are not impacted by these developments and remain in effect.” Within the Community Standards Loyola has laid out what is prohibited under the Student Code of Conduct, including sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, stalking, and domestic violence. And the University stresses the importance of other existing laws, such as Title IX itself, the Violence Against Women Act (which requires, among many things, institutions to provide and promote prevention and awareness campaigns for students and employees), and the Illinois Preventing Sexual Assault in Higher Education Act (which demands services such as a confidential advisor be made available to all survivors).
Loyola has stated it will remain committed to immediate action in sexual harassment and assault cases. Although the threshold for acceptable student conduct is outlined in Loyola’s Community Standards, there is no direction confirmation, at this time, if the school will or will not adopt the new evidence requirement in the future. However, students should know that Loyola’s current policies regarding gender-based misconduct are not going to be impacted or changed at the present.
If you or someone you know at Loyola needs to report a sexual harassment or assault, please feel free to contact these links:
Jessica Landis (Assistant Dean of Students for Safety and Equity, LUC’s Title IX Deputy Coordinator)
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(773) 508-8834
Tom Kelly (Senior Vice President for Administrative Services, LUC’s Title IX Coordinator)
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(312) 915-6400