Let us ask you a question: What is Title IX?
If you’re like most students, you don’t really know. Maybe you’ve heard about it, but you couldn’t list any details about it or know what it has to do with Boston University. Well, it has a lot to do with BU, and some major changes to our Title IX policy have just been made.
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, to quote the excerpt BU’s Equal Opportunity Office uses on its website, means that “no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of or be subject to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” Title IX is the reason why a school that has a junior varsity and varsity baseball team must also have a junior varsity and varsity softball team, among many other things.
BU’s Title IX policy came under fire in May 2014 when BU was placed on a list of 55 colleges and universities being investigated by the U.S. Department of Education for mishandling reports of sexual misconduct, The Daily Free Press reported.
The DOE did not release specific information regarding the reasons each school was placed on the list, but BU spokesman Colin Riley released a statement in May saying the DOE’s Office of Civil Rights is investigating a single complaint made in October 2013.
“While we believe the University provided the student with a prompt and equitable resolution of the complaint in full accordance with the requirements of Title IX, we are cooperating fully with OCR in its investigation and are always open to improving the manner in which we respond to any incident of sexual misconduct reported to us,” he said.
On March 31, 2014, Jean Morrison, University Provost, and Kim Randall, University Title IX coordinator and executive director of equal opportunity, sent an email to all students of BU, intended to brief them on the resources available in cases of sexual misconduct. However, that was the last we as students heard directly from the university administration about Title IX until Monday, when BU President Robert Brown sent an email to the student body, so nonchalant that most students probably deleted it from their inbox.
The university has adopted new procedures regarding the resolution of sexual misconduct complaints against students, faculty, staff, affiliates and non-affiliates. The policy apparently came into effect on Jan. 1, but it had a rather unceremonious introduction.
So unceremonious, in fact, that The Daily Free Press wrote an editorial on Jan. 29 about BU needing to do more regarding the DOE investigation and be more open with students about the measures they’re taking. This was written four weeks after the policy became effective.
Four weeks, and BU students weren’t even aware an updated policy was being created.
Figuring out a way to make it more prominent would be nice. The email is an OK start, but think about how many students might not know what Title IX even is. Universities need to not sweep this sort of thing under the rug. None of this is going to get better by sending an email that most students aren’t going to read.
The email includes a hyperlink to BU’s safety procedures website, where sexual misconduct gets its own headline. And the actual policy itself actually seems very respectable. There are no real problems with it. In fact, it’s very extensive, covering all the bases.
But there’s a problem with the way it was presented. In uploading the new policy to their website, BU didn’t keep the old policy available for easy access. For students who weren’t aware of the Title IX changes, how are they supposed to educate themselves, and understand what changed between the old and new policies, without seeing what the policy used to be? You can’t make real change by abolishing the past. We need to see what’s new to understand why the old didn’t work.
We have to wonder why they’re being so elusive about this whole thing. It seems like it would be a great public relations move and something the school can really be proud of, but instead, BU is acting like it’s something to be ashamed of. Everyone seems to want to steer as far away from the issue as possible, not realizing that not talking about it is just making it worse.
BU has instated what seems like a really good, thorough policy for procedures regarding filing sexual assault and misconduct complaints. If someone has a problem regarding sexual misconduct on campus, BU is confident that they can take care of it. It’s not exactly proactive, but it’s an important reactive step that will lead to action. They’re treating it like it’s important … but only online.
BU, you’re doing something really wonderful for once — stop hiding.
Editor’s Note: One of the members of The Daily Free Press editorial board contributed to the reporting of the Title IX changes news story. For the purpose of maintaining objectivity in the news story, that board member did not participate in this editorial meeting.
