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Title IX ensures justice 

Here with her weekly report, Barnard Bearoness Maddie Stearn tells us about what went down at last night’s SGA meeting. A large portion of the meeting was devoted to Barnard’s position in the impending Title IX investigation, while the last bit of the agenda was reserved for going over dates of exciting events that are happening around campus soon. Read below to find out more. 

Amy Zavadil, Barnard’s Associate Dean of Equity and Title IX Coordinator, sat down with SGA members on Monday night to discuss the ongoing Title IX investigation at Barnard. Dean Zavadil gave a general overview of how the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) conducts Title IX investigations before taking questions from students. Here’s a breakdown of what we learned last night:

  • The complaint against Barnard was filed in April of 2014 and the OCR officially opened the Title IX investigation on January 5, 2015.
  • On January 9th President Spar sent an email notifying Barnard students of the investigation.
  • Both President Spar and Dean Zavadil have said that Barnard is cooperating fully with the investigation.
  • The OCR does not release the exact nature of any complaints to schools.
  • The name of students involved in a complaint (but not necessarily the complainant) are provided in notices of Title IX investigations.
  • The investigation will only determine whether or not Barnard is in compliance with Title IX and will not examine specific cases.
  • Barnard’s General Counsel is in the process of providing the OCR with any requested information.
  • The OCR typically asks for documentation of a school’s Title IX-related policies spanning the last 3 years.
  • The OCR Processing Manual is available online for anyone who wants to know how the investigation process will proceed.

Additional Resources from the Office of Civil Rights:

Dean Zavadil emphasized that if an institution is found not in violation of Title IX, this does not, in any way, invalidate the complainant’s experience. Dean Zavadil also outlined the process for reporting an incident of sexual harassment/assault online at Barnard’s Title IX page. The page details Barnard’s policies and procedures, includes a table with the appropriate contacts depending on the nature of a report, and has a list of on- and off-campus resources. Students can also book an appointment online to meet with Dean Zavadil (similar to the online appointment-booking system that the class deans use). If a student does not want to report a case, but would like information about what would happen should they file a report, the student can meet with Dean Zavadil and speak in hypotheticals (i.e. “What if someone experienced ____?”) and can receive a general idea of what the reporting process would look like. Students can also email Dean Zavadil with any questions, concerns, or suggestions.

The last ten minutes of the SGA meeting focused on committee reports. Applications are out for several positions and events and a few important dates are coming up:

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