RMU Focusing on Title IX

By Bailey Neale

September 22, 2014

Beginning this semester, Robert Morris University student leaders and faculty
members will undergo Title IX training.
The university wants both groups familiar with the law and its requirements. The
training sessions began on Sept. 15, and will be ongoing throughout the school year.
The office of Civil Rights has requirements for what campuses need to do to
prepare all of their employees. Sometimes students are employees, so we want to
make sure that we actually proactively help train every RMU employee so that they
know what the compliance requirements are, said RMUs Title IX Coordinator
Yasmin Purohit.
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 states that 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." In other words,
Title IX promotes gender equality in all
activities on campus, and ensures an equal
educational experience
Through the Title IX Office on campus, and
the policy that is currently being developed
by a panel of several RMU faculty members,
the university is especially focused on trying
to end sexual violence on campus, which was the purpose for the first training
sessions. Students and faculty are also learning the procedure to report a case of
sexual violence if they know of one, and how to properly assist a victim.
I think if we step back and say Why is this in place?, its in place so we can one,
begin really talking about this issue, and two, end it, said Wellness and Crisis
Counselor Randon Willard, who presented the training course to the student leaders.
We can begin talking about consent in a really healthy way, and we can begin
talking about sexual violence to say that its wrong, and we need to be able to have
these conversations.
In addition to the in-person training, student leaders are required to take an online
training course called Think About It, which also discusses Title IX and sexual
violence in more detail, as well as other campus safety topics. All incoming students
are also encouraged to take the online course.

Screenshots from Think About It, the online training course, required for all student leaders and incoming students.

These are very, very real scenarios that many college students may be faced
with, and its very good that we have this training to get our student leaders looking
at what might happen, said Ryan Painter, an RMU senior who attended the training
session, representing Top Secret Colonials and Alpha Phi Omega.
The universitys policy is being strengthened now, partly in response to national
policies recently enforced by the Office of Civil Rights. This April, the Obama
administration also launched Not Alone, which provides assistance to students
and schools across the nation, according to a Valerie Jarrett and Lynn Rosenthal
The White House Blog report.
I would say that weve always been extremely vigilant about campus misconduct
through our office of student life, and we have a good, thorough student conduct
policy. We have been doing things that are attentive, said Purohit. However, I have
to say that the increase in national attention to this topic since 2011 is what has
also promoted us to make sure that we are in sync with what the office of civil rights
requires, so we want to make sure we are complient, but we have always been
vigilant about it.
Other colleges across the nation, including many Pittsburgh area schools, such as
Duquesne University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Carnegie Mellon University,
also have a strong focus on Title IX. Duquesne and Pitt both provide vast resources
regarding sexual assault and Title IX directly on their websites. According to
cmu.edu, Carnegie Mellon has had specific sexual assault protection policies in
place for over 30 years, with the most recent policy being approved in April 2013.
RMUs Title IX trainings will continue throughout the fall semester, and different
sessions will be offered, starting in January. Although the next sessions will focus on
different topics, Title IX will continue to be an important aspect of responsibility for
student leaders.