Title IX Coordinator discusses reporting system and resources

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CORRECTION-In the Oct. 25 issue of The Pacific Index, a story about Title IX with the headline “Title IX Coordinator discusses reporting system and resources” reported incorrect information.

The article reported that if a case involved a student-to-student issue, the Student Conduct Board would meet to determine next steps. However, it is actually Title IX Student Response Team that would convene first, and then, if necessary, refer the case to the Student Conduct Board.-CORRECTION

Title IX is a federal law that prohibits all forms of sex discrimination, and every member of the Pacific University community, including students, faculty, staff and visitors, are covered by Title IX requirements and protections.

Title IX, which was first introduced as a portion of the United States Education Amendments of 1972, states no person on the basis of sex be denied the benefits or opportunities of any educational program or activity that receives federal funding.

According to Pacific’s Title IX Coordinator and Vice President of Enrollment Management and Student Affairs Mark Ankeny, Title IX mandates and requirements have evolved over time.

“In more recent years, Title IX has been applied to making certain educational organizations pay attention to, and remedy, any kind of situation where there is evidence of sexual harassment, sexual assault or sexual violence,” Ankeny said.

The three main areas of conflict Title IX regulations apply to include gender bias issues, employee harassment issues and student harassment issues.

According to Ankeny, once the school becomes aware of a possible Title IX related issue, a Title IX case leader team meets to first determine whether the case truly does relate to Title IX, and then how best to proceed.

“When the school knows of a Title IX related issue we have to take immediate and corrective action,” Ankeny said. “If a case involves an employee-to-employee type of issue, then we would include Human Resources. If a case involved a student-to-student issue, we would include the Student Conduct Board.”

Though the United States Education Department and Secretary of Education Betsy Devos have stirred up talk about making changes to Title IX, Ankeny said no new national policies have been made. He also said Pacific’s Title IX system and structure remains virtually unchanged from previous years.

“Our current Title IX system at Pacific seems to be working well for handling different situations,” Ankeny said.

Students, faculty or staff, can report a Title IX related issue at any time by talking to a trained Title IX deputy, or learn more about the reporting process and possible course of action by going to Pacific’s website and clicking on the “Support at Pacific” button, located in the footer section on each page.

“The ‘Support at Pacific’ page shows you both confidential and non-confidential reporting options for Title IX issues, and the contact information of other resources for issues nonrelated to Title IX,” Ankeny said. “In organizing this webpage, we made sure to put the reporting component right at the front, to make sure students could get support right away.”

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