Secretary of Education Betsy Devos announced that her department will review the campus sexual assault system because of concerns that the current system is unfair to those accused.
Title IX is a federal law TK created in 1972 that makes any form of sex based discrimination unacceptable under the law. It states: “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.”
Since it was enacted it has primarily been related to equal funding and opportunities for both male and female sports. However, Title IX is very broad. Recently the emphasis has been made that the law covers sexual harassment and violence.
Augustana College has four Title IX Coordinators who are responsible for taking complaints and questions regarding Title IX. Chief Title IX Coordinator Laura Ford is responsible for enforcing Title IX. Deputy Title IX Coordinator Chris Beyer is in charge of student training. Deputy Title IX Coordinator Laura Schnack is responsible for investigating student matters. And Deputy Title IX Coordinator Wendy Hilton-Morrow is in charge of faculty training.
President Steven Bahls issued a statement to the campus that said Augustana will continue to follow their policy as it is now. It read “We have made tremendous strides towards educating our community about sexual assault prevention, as well as ensuring community members appropriately respond to reports of sexual assault.”
Associate Dean Wendy Hilton-Marrow said, “I think that by making it explicit that sexual assault follows under Title IX, which is an association that really hadn’t been made until fairly recently, that it has forced a lot of colleges and universities to really look seriously at the issue of sexual assault, domestic violence, and to review their procedures to make sure that they’re fair and supportive to both somebody who is making a claim and somebody against who the claim is made. I think that is absolutely a positive thing.”
Hilton-Marrow primarily focuses on faculty training around Title IX. She makes sure they know what the law is, what Augustana’s policies are, and what the faculty is responsible for. Often, she will be the one a faculty member contacts if they are concerned about a student.
All employees go through online training that the school has designed. It consists of videos and interactive questions that cover all the different areas of sex discriminations. It also covers what happens after a report is made, helps them understand what the policy is, talks to them about how to support a survivor, and things to say if somebody were to disclose information to them.
And then once a year the school does some additional follow up training. They offer sessions particularly to faculty to talk about other issues that Title IX involves. The training covers topics like supporting transgendered students and avoiding discrimination based on gender identity. The training includes mock scenarios where staff are asked to analyze and discuss how they might respond to various situations, so staff may be prepared in the event a real issue occurs.
Natalie Trujillo is a senior Psychology, Sociology, WGS major, and the president of +Impact.  After hearing of Betsy Devos’s uncertain plans for Title IX, Trujillo said she is afraid because no one knows what will change and she hopes that colleges don’t move backwards.
Devos has emphasized the rights of accused and that there needs to be fairness for both parties. Trujillo fears that this will bring back the stereotype that survivors are lying about what happened. She said, “My fear is that [the system] would go back to an awful place of blaming survivors or not believing them or not giving them any sort of help… Them not getting the justice they deserve, and [this system] just pushing rape culture under the rug.”