Schools should ensure that no student has to

Title IX Coordinator Search: Where we are now

THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT TITLE IX:

that prohibits sex discrimi

ALL students regardless of

3) Schools should ensure that no student has to share campus space (such as dorms, classes, and workplaces) with their abuser.

no-contact directives to prevent accused students from approaching or inter- acting with the complainant.

ALL schools receiving federal funding, including public K-12 schools and the majority of colleges,

the school and will be arriving back on campus in April to do contract work involving training related to Title IX. However, this does not mean she will be returning as the Title IX Coordinator.

“We’ve already been through one round of interviews,” Lamb said. “We typically receive applications, look to see who meets at least the minimum requirements on paper and then do phone interviews with those individuals. Then from the phone interviews, we decide who we would like to invite on campus. At that time they meet with a lot of different people [such as] student VIPs and Title IX investigators and with the president’s cabinet.”

The committee receives feedback about applicants from the interviews they have with these various groups of people on campus and based off the feedback given, the committee then will extend an offer out to their chosen candidate for the position, of course keeping President Suzanne Shipley informed at all steps of the process and proceeding with her approval.

While Lamb hopes to hire the next Title IX Coordinator by spring, he said he’s willing to wait later for the right candidate to appear.

“This is a critical position to get right,” Lamb said. “I would like to have someone this spring, but as I said, this is a critical position where we need to get the right person. It needs a balance of being able to work in policy and legal matters as well as possessing a very strong human element.”

Title IX is a law that was passed by the United States Supreme Court of Justice as part of the Education Amendments of 1972. Title IX states, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to the discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” In short, a university is at risk of losing not just millions, but all of its federal aid to “I would like to have someone this spring, but as I said, this is a critical position where we need to get the right person.” KEITH LAMB VICE PRESIDENT OF STUDENT AFFAIRS

PHOTO BY BRADLEY WILSON | THE WICHITAN Rachael Fornof talks to faculty after a Title IX training. April 2.

improve itself if it fails to uphold Title IX. Due to Title IX, universities nationally were forced to step up their response and provide programming to spread awareness to not only students but also college faculty including professors, coaches and third party employees to ultimately prevent and stop instances of sexual discrimination.

Sexual violence, including but not limited to, rape and forced pregnancy is also sexual discrimination as well. When typed Title IX seems like a small deal, but it is a huge deal that most universities often create entire departments and/or divisions to execute. The usual name of the position for one who is in charge of Title IX enforcement is “Title IX Coordinator.” This person receives and investigates claims of sexual discrimination that occur on the campus in which they are the Title IX Coordinator. Academic institutions do this because the loss of federal aid can be devastating, especially to smaller institutions as a loss of funds could cause the halting of construction on buildings and the inability to pay for beneficial school programs and faculty salaries. It also has an added effect of making some students unable to attend school as recipients of federal financial aid. Midwestern State University has promptly followed all Title IX guidelines since its enactment.