The Wesleyan Argus | Updates to Title IX Regulations

thanks to Lizzy Brandt

Effective August 1, 2024, the university has implemented new Title IX regulations in response to updated guidance from the U.S. Department of Education (ED) regarding sexual violence prevention and gender equity on campuses. Vice President for Equity and Inclusion Willette Burnham-Williams updated the Wesleyan community on the changes in a school-wide email.

“As always, our goal is to have compliant policies, practices, and procedures that are responsive and fair to all parties, consistent with Wesleyan’s values,” Title IX Coordinator and Assistant Vice President for Equity and Inclusion Debbie Colucci wrote in an email to The Argus. “Wesleyan’s Civil Rights Core Team, along with members of the Title IX Resource Network, gathered best practices from associations and higher education institutions as we reviewed and revised Wesleyan’s current policies and procedures.”

Title IX was established in 1972 by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. Along with regulations for athletes expected to be released in the coming year, the updated Final Rule under Title IX restores and clarifies protections against gender discrimination and violence for visitors to publicly funded schools and education programs.

“(T)he regulations restore and strengthen essential protections for students and provide schools with information to meet their Title IX obligations, while providing sufficient discretion and flexibility to account for variations in school size, student populations, and administrative structures,” an update on the university’s website said.

The Department of Education updated its Title IX regulations in 2020, but many feel the revisions weren’t comprehensive enough. Colucci sees the 2024 changes as a way to give students more options for further action when reporting Title IX violations.

“The 2020 changes were restrictive in ways that did not always meet the needs of students,” Colucci wrote. “The 2024 rules retain some positive aspects, but also restore some of the previous rules.

Wesleyan’s implementation of the new regulations includes revised policies, new training requirements for faculty and staff, and clearer reporting specifications for the entire community. Wesleyan also offers a incident reporting form for violations of the University’s Community Standards, which apply to violations of Title IX.

In addition to the Title IX regulatory updates, the university has begun implementing the Green Dot strategy for campus violence prevention. The Green Dot Bystander Intervention Program is a community safety model that focuses on training bystanders to be active participants in preventing and intercepting violence on university campuses and beyond.

“Green Dot is the only prevention approach shown to reduce multiple forms of interpersonal violence,” Amanda Carrington, deputy director for sexual violence prevention, wrote in an email to The Argus, citing a CDC study on violence prevention strategies.

Groups on campus continue to receive Green Dot training to become more aware of potentially dangerous behavior on campus and to implement specific techniques to mitigate this behavior.

“Bystander education will make our campus safer and help our students become more informed and aware citizens after graduation,” Carrington wrote. “The rollout of the Green Dot program on our campus will begin this semester with an official launch across campus in the spring semester.”

Any member of the Wesleyan community who has experienced sexual misconduct, whether it is intimate partner violence, non-consensual sexual activity and assault, sexual exploitation, stalking, or sexual harassment, is encouraged to talk to someone. For confidential conversations, contact WesWell’s Associate Director for Sexual Violence Prevention, Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) and/or the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life. Anyone who would like to discuss options and resources for support or report an incident of misconduct is encouraged to contact the Title IX Office of Public Safety.

Anabel Goode can be reached at [email protected].