Within a week of the announcement of Associate Dean of Equity and Inclusion and acting Title IX coordinator B. Afeni McNeely Cobham’s departure, students gathered in Cro to discuss the shortcomings in Conn’s approach to upholding Title IX requirements. Although the 2015 “Dear College Letter” released by the U.S. Department of Education states: “Designating a full-time Title IX coordinator will minimize the risk of a conflict of interest and in many cases ensure sufficient time is available to perform all the role’s responsibilities,” Conn does not currently embrace this protocol. Since Spring 2018, Title IX coordination has fallen under the Associate Dean of Instituional Equity and Inclusion’s jurisdiction, and previously, the Dean of Institutional Equity and Inclusion had assumed the responsibilities of Title IX coordinator.
At the Feb. 14 meeting, concerned students noted the distinction between designating Title IX as a responsibility under a full-time position, like Dean or Associate Dean of Institutional Equity and Inclusion, and making Title IX coordination itself a full-time job. The Associate Dean position holds additional responsibilities, which some students say prevent the office from providing full-time attention for Title IX complaints. The meeting—organized by Hannah Johnston ’18, Michelle Lee ’18, and Emma Race ’18—represented an initial step in a process to increase student input over Title IX staffing.
Most Title IX coordinator positions began as part-time jobs or added responsibilities for faculty, but current Title IX coordinators have assumed greater responsibilities across the country as the scope of the law has expanded. In the last three years, dozens of institutions—including Franklin & Marshall College, Stanford University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill—have established independent Title IX offices with full-time coordinators. In fact, in its “Dear Colleague” letter, the Department of Education revealed that incidents of sexual misconduct actually decrease when colleges hire full-time Title IX staff. But despite the attention that developments in Title IX have received, just ten percent of coordinators surveyed by the Association of Title IX Administrators reported to have no major responsibilities other than responding to sexual assault and gender-based discrimination on campuses, the Chronicle of Higher Education reports.
In an email to supporters, Race contends that the “administration is just not giving [Title IX] the attention it requires and deserves.” The vacancy created by McNeely Cobham’s departure raised further questions among these students over whether the College will hire a new coordinator without addressing any of the structural issues associated with the current job description. Balancing the demands of multiple jobs, the Associate Dean of Institutional Equity and Inclusion cannot devote sufficient attention to the investigation of cases or provide affected students with appropriate support. It seems that the choice of McKnight as interim Title IX coordinator only compounds this problem, as one student who attended the meeting noted that McKnight sometimes takes several days to “get to sensitive cases, because he has too many jobs.” Johnston echoed this claim and observed that McKnight has said that he cannot take on the responsibilities of Title IX coordinator for a significant period “on top of his other jobs.”
It seems clear, then, that there exists a discrepancy between student and administrative perception of what successful Title IX coordination should entail. In an email exchange with the Voice, McKnight stressed: “there is a fundamental misunderstanding among students about the nature and volume of [Title IX] work.” He emphasized that the Title IX coordinator “is not an advocacy role,” and that “trained staff serve as advocates for survivors.” He said that the coordinator assumes “highly administrative” tasks and that, “with an average caseload of about 8-10 cases per year over the past several years” the workload is “manageable for even a part time person.” Students, in their meeting, were quick to note that the referenced caseload reflects the number of incidents that actually get litigated rather than the number of incidents reported at Conn.
The merging of Title IX and Equity and Inclusion oversight is not explicitly condemned by the 2015 “Dear Colleague” letter, but not exactly endorsed, either. “Title IX does not categorically exclude particular employees from serving as Title IX coordinators,” the letter notes. “However, when designating a Title IX coordinator, a recipient should be careful to avoid designating an employee whose other job responsibilities may create a conflict of interest. For example, designating a disciplinary board member, general counsel, dean of students, superintendent, principal, or athletics director as the Title IX coordinator may pose a conflict of interest.” While the Title IX coordinator may not advocate on behalf of certain parties, the position requires direct contact with students over highly sensitive experiences. As a result, students believe that they deserve to have greater say in the coordinator hiring process.
The absence of meaningful student input in the hiring process of Title IX coordinators in the past remains a key point of contention. Race said that she and other students had tried to meet with McKnight early in the semester to advocate for an independent full-time coordinator as well as encourage more transparency in the hiring process, but the meeting “was mysteriously delayed for weeks.” In announcing McNeely Cobham’s parting to the Conn community, McKnight revealed that he would “be convening a group of students, faculty, and staff” to advise on him on how the office of Equity and Inclusion may best fulfill the Title IX guidelines, but the degree that students actually hold influence remains unclear. Johnson, Lee, and Race have—however—have scheduled a meeting with McKnight for Feb. 23 to express the demands of concerned students. McKnight, in his separate email exchange with the Voice, says that students will be invited to attend open meetings with coordinator finalists.
These students have written and circulated a petition that highlights their list of demands. They call on President Bergeron, McKnight, and the College Board of Trustees to establish a full-time Title IX coordinator with the sole responsibility of addressing sexual assault cases. The position must be filled “through a process that is transparent and overseen by students,” the petition notes. They further advocate for the hiring of a coordinator with at least two years of experience “in the realm of Title IX litigation” who is accountable to Conn students as well as empowering a separate office to handle cases of discrimination based-bias.
The demands, to meeting organizers and attendees, seem winnable. Paolo Sanchez ’18, the SGA Chair of Equity and Inclusion, has said that he will draft an SGA resolution demanding a full-time coordinator. Race also noted that McKnight’s position was established as a result of student activism, and student activism can continue to spur structural change at the College. She contends that, because “money exists in all sorts of random places” at the College, Conn has the means to hire a full-time Title IX coordinator. The rallying-call of these student organizers declared at the Cro gathering references the consuming nature of sexual assault, harassment, and discrimination to capture the essence of their demands: “for a full-time experience, we need a full-time coordinator.”
