10 minute read
On the Basis of Sex
IX
ON THE
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BY | GREG SKOOG (SJU ’89) AND ELLEN HUNTER GANS ’05
How much do we love Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972? A lot.
How come? Well, obviously, because it was a landmark initiative intent on creating more equitable access to education for women. And, when you think about it, that precisely describes what our founding sisters did almost 60 years earlier in opening the College of Saint Benedict. So we feel a bit of kinship with Title IX. And this year we’ve been happy to wish the legislation a happy 50th anniversary.
Defining IX
Title IX was enacted on June 23, 1972, to prohibit educational institutions from discriminating against students or employees based on sex. It reads:
“No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”
As a result, any school – from elementary to university (that’s just about every school) – must provide fair and equal treatment of the sexes in all areas. What do we mean by “all areas”? The most visible areas today are athletics and protection from sex-based harassment (including sexual assault and other forms of sexual violence). But Title IX has also had a profound impact on recruiting, admissions, counseling, financial aid, employment, treatment of pregnant/ parenting students and treatment of LGBTQ+ students. According to a report by the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education, prior to Title IX, female students generally weren’t allowed to take certain courses like auto mechanics or criminal justice (and male students couldn’t take home economics). Many colleges required higher test scores and better grades from women to gain admission. And women living on campus weren’t allowed to stay out past midnight. (This last one was certainly a factor at CSB as well. Alumnae of the early 1970s no doubt remember the struggles to loosen the Hours restrictions.) Once Title IX began opening doors, women rushed in boldly. Numbers from the U.S. Department of Education show that in 1973, 43% of female high school graduates enrolled in college. By 1994, that number grew to 63%. The enrollment graph shown here shows how the trend extended to women’s colleges like Saint Ben’s as well.
2500 CSB Enrollment Growth
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1939-40 1941-42 1943-44 1945-46 1947-48 1949-50 1951-52 1953-54 1955-56 1957-58 1959-60 1961-62 1963-64 1965-66 1967-68 1969-70 1971-72 1973-74 1975-76 1977-78 1979-80 1981-82 1983-84 1985-86 1987-88 1989-90 1991-92 1993-94 1995-96 1997-98 1999-00 2001-02 2003-04 2005-06 2007-08 2009-10 2011-12
Does it apply to us?
It DOES apply to the College of Saint Benedict, even though we’re a private institution, because we take federal funds in any number of ways. CSB receives funding from the federal government in the form of National Endowment for the Humanities or National Science Foundation grants we apply for. We receive funding from the federal government specific to individual students in the form of Pell Grants or federal loans our students take out. And that’s just to name a few. It also applies to us even though we’re a “college for women,” because trans and nonbinary folks deserve access as well. You can see the way Title IX converges with our Benedictine values in the way our statement on What it Means to be a College for Women affirms that:
“As a college for women, CSB maintains a visible commitment to diversity and inclusion: including gender nonconforming and transgender people, people of color, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, people of various ages, people with limited economic means, and people of varying religious, spiritual and political beliefs. At CSB, we live our Benedictine value of respect for persons. This commitment requires ongoing intentionality and work to fully hear the perspectives of women and other marginalized groups. In our community, this intentionality is worthy and valued.”
Student Development under Strong Integration
One of the most visible aspects of the recent Strong Integration between Saint Ben’s and Saint John’s from a student’s perspective has been the creation of an associate provost for student success. Mary Geller, longtime vice president of student development at Saint Ben’s has been elevated to this role. While residential life programming on each campus remains distinctly tailored to its student body, there are important advantages to a joint approach. For example, there will be a consistent student conduct process. Students will experience the same process regardless of which campus they are on. This will allow for similar data reports regarding conduct violations on either campus and allow each campus to design educational interventions based on trends. Overseeing that policy and compliance will fall to Geller. Connecting Student Development to the provost’s office will also link the curricular and co-curricular – optimizing the student experience inside and outside the classroom.
Associate Provost for Student Success
Mary Geller Selected responsibilities:
• Multicultural Student Services • Outdoor University • Family resources • Well-Being Center • Assessment of learning outcomes
Dean of Students, CSB
Jody Terhaar Selected responsibilities:
• Residential life/student activities • Student conduct • First-Year Experience liaison • CSB Student Senate advisor
Assistant Dean of Students, CSB
Marcia Mahlum Selected responsibilities:
• Student conduct and care • Risk management and campus emergency planning
Dean of Students, SJU
Mike Connolly Selected responsibilities:
• Residential life/student activities • Student conduct • First-Year Experience liaison • SJU Student Senate advisor
(Interim) Assistant Dean of Students, SJU
Amanda Erdman Selected responsibilities:
• Student conduct and care • Risk management and campus emergency planning
TITLE IX REPORTING
In cases where a student chooses to make a report of an alleged violation of the CSB and SJU joint sexual misconduct policy, our practice is to “investigate and promptly seek the equitable resolution.” That takes a thorough and carefully considered process. The Title IX section of our website was updated this summer to make it more accessible and usable for students. The policy has been reformatted to be more readable and jump links on the page make the site much easier to navigate. The procedure has been reformatted and slightly revised to make it easier to understand and follow. You can learn much more at csbsju.edu/title-ix. Saint Ben’s students are able to talk about options for reporting, support and resources by contacting Title IX Coordinator Tamara Hennes-Vix. “Talking to the Title IX Office does not automatically activate a complaint process,” clarifies Hennes-Vix.
The ongoing impact of Project EMBRACE
Project EMBRACE is a three-year CSB and SJU grant from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Violence Against Women (OVW), currently on a three-month extension, scheduled to expire on Dec. 31. The work done in this area over the last three years with the help of this grant has been valuable, intentional and wide-ranging. Its impact will be felt for a long time and many of its initiatives will continue into the future.
Grant partners
1. Central Minnesota
Sexual Assault Center
2. Stearns County Sheriff’s
Department 3. St. Joseph Police Department
Grant work groups
1. Student Conduct
This group’s efforts center on enhancing the student conduct process for cases of sexual assault, dating/ domestic violence and stalking. Special attention is paid to cultural competency and underserved student populations through ongoing training efforts. The Student Conduct work group has also reviewed policies and protocols to ensure a traumainformed, survivor-centered approach to the student conduct process.
2. Comprehensive Prevention
Grant funds have gone to ensuring and enhancing mandatory training requirements such as: • Prevention education for incoming first-year students • Bystander intervention training Student partner groups include the Johnnie Development Institute, the Institute for Women’s Leadership and CERTS (a student/staff partnership focused on Consent, Equality, Respect, Talking and Safety). This work group also spearheaded development of an awareness campaign launched this fall across both campuses called Make it Known, intended to: • declare behaviors that our community won’t tolerate • encourage bystander intervention • create awareness of victim services available to our campus community
OUR COMMUNITY WILL NOT TOLERATE ABUSE REPORT SEXUAL ASSAULT REPORT DATING/DOMESTIC VIOLENCE REPORT STALKING BE AN ALLY RESPECT ALL
If you have been a victim of sexual assault, dating/domestic violence and/or stalking, you have options. To report sexual misconduct call the Title IX Office at 320-363-5943 Local 24-hour hotlines: Anna Marie’s Alliance Dating/Domestic Violence Hotline 320-253-6900 Central Minnesota Sexual Assault Center Hotline 320-251-4357 Security assistance: CSB Campus Security 320-363-5000 SJU Life Safety 320-363-2144
We all play a part in prevention.
To learn more about campus resources, visit Project Embrace at csbsju.edu/project-embrace
Review the Title IX and Sexual Misconduct Policy of the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University at csbsju.edu/title-ix/policy
This project is supported by Grant No. 2019-WA-AX-0004 awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
3. Victim Services
With this group’s help, QR codes on posters displayed throughout the campuses link students directly to the Central Minnesota Sexual Assault Center to schedule an appointment with an advocate. The Victim Services work group has also focused on trauma-informed training (exploring the neurobiology of trauma and the range of responses to it) for CSB Campus Security staff, SJU Life Safety staff and staff across the student conduct sphere.
4. Law Enforcement/Campus Security
Grant funds have provided traumainformed training for the Stearns County Sheriff’s Department, St. Joseph Police Department, and campus security officers. Grant efforts have also helped provide supportive resources for victims who make reports.
WHERE ARE WE NOW?
So we recognize the impact that Title IX legislation has had on women’s access to higher education, the transformation of women’s athletics, and the ongoing work toward challenging gender-based inequities and eradicating gender-based violence. In this, its 50th year, we celebrate the ongoing fight for the rights of all those who face discrimination based upon gender. And we all agree Title IX is great. It’s definitely been a game changer, right? Well … that depends on who you ask. According to a poll conducted in May by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the National Women’s History Museum, 61% of men say the U.S. has made a great deal of progress toward gender equality since 1972. However, only 37% of women agreed. Issues like continued wage gaps and battles over women’s reproductive rights were cited by skeptical women in the poll. In an Associated Press article covering the poll, Shiwali Patel, senior counsel at the National Women’s Law Center, cites what she sees as the law’s impacts and shortcomings: “More women are getting scholarships, participating in college sports and landing faculty jobs. But there has also been resistance to continued involvement, especially in the fight against sexual harassment and violence.”’
That last one is an important point of emphasis at both the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University. And we back it up with resources, effort and attention like the programs you just read about on page 16.
Can we lead the way forward?
As a women’s college, Saint Ben’s is something of a live laboratory experiment. We get to see what it’s like when you create, designate and reserve student leadership positions exclusively for women. (As a fully coeducational institution, we wouldn’t be allowed to do that.) We get to control our own athletic programs, adding varsity programs like the incoming lacrosse team because they suit our students rather than because they balance out between men and women.
This is not a criticism of Title IX in the slightest, but rather a claim on the opportunity we have before us. Historically, people who identify as men have been the dominant voice in this country. Title IX was supposed to help women “catch up,” for lack of a better term. Imagine what happens when we unapologetically elevate women and don’t simply let them lead, but make it so there’s no alternative.
Perhaps we start to make steps toward creating an environment where we’re no longer chasing down accountability for violations because the culture really does make those violations unthinkable. Imagine if women felt safe. Saint Ben’s is by no means perfect. But we can move toward a microcosm of a society that’s more fundamentally egalitarian. In some ways we already are. Fifty years ago, women needed to be protected by law simply to affirm their presence, participation and legal support. We can honor that legacy by evolving to a place where Title IX is no longer a resource for the already violated, but rather a reflection of the equity that already exists.
