Issue 19 02/05/19

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SERVING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, RENO SINCE 1893

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2019

VOLUME 125, ISSUE 19

‘CONCERNING’

Proposed Title IX changes may alter how colleges handle sexual assault •

Proposed changes announced by DOE on Nov. 29

Public comment period ended on Jan. 30 at 5:00 p.m.

Title IX Office would not investigate off-campus incidents, under revisions By Olivia Ali

Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced proposed changes to the way college campuses are required to handle sexual assault on Thursday, Nov. 29, 2018. The Department of Education allowed a two-month long public comment period, which ended on Wednesday, Jan. 30 at 5:00 p.m. The public comment period allowed students, university administrators, Title IX officers and others to report their thoughts on the effects of the proposed changes. Proposed changes to the federal Title IX policy would mean Title IX offices on college campuses are not required to investigate any student-to-student incidents reported to have taken place in off-campus areas — including student apartments, Greek organization facilities and study abroad programs. In addition to the areas of jurisdiction potentially changing, the proposed changes would also change the mandated reporting process. As of now, university employees — including but not limited to resident advisors, coaches and student employees — are required to report any incidents of sexual assault they have knowledge of. The proposed changes would require only Title IX officers to file reports if they have knowledge of an incident. Other proposed changes require live hearings, which Director of Title IX and ADA Maria Doucettperry fears will deter students from utilizing Title IX services. “The proposed rules require all Title IX sexual harassment proceedings at institutions of higher education to include a

live hearing at which the parties, through their advisors, are entitled to cross-examine the other party and any witnesses,” Doucettperry said. “I don’t believe that this requirement is appropriate within an academic setting. These procedures mimic legal proceedings without any of the safety nets customarily found in a legal environment. The University of Nevada, Reno is not equipped to be and does not wish to be, a judicial body. I believe this requirement will have a number of adverse effects to include deterring students from pursuing sexual harassment complaints and requiring unequal treatment of campus community members based on the type of misconduct alleged.” Doucettperry also expressed concern regarding a new proposed regulation requiring the Title IX Office to dismiss complaints not amounting to sexual harassment. “Additionally, the proposed rules state that in cases where the complaint alleges conduct that does not amount to sexual harassment as defined in the regulations, or the alleged conduct took place outside of the institution’s program or activity, the institution ‘must dismiss that complaint,’ (emphasis added),” Doucettperry said in an email to the Nevada Sagebrush. “This requirement seems to definitively deny a remedy notwithstanding the fact that otherwise actionable conduct that might even be defined in other governing laws, such as dating violence under Cleary, has occurred. This is concerning for the University in that this proposed rule seems to require us to ignore the needs of our community.” On the university’s campus, a 2016 survey of sexual conduct and campus safety indicated 79

Art exhibit in KC explores existentialism

See A&E page A5

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy Devos speaks at the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018. The public comment period to Devos’s proposed changes ended on Wednesday, Jan. 30.

percent of “unwanted sexual conduct affecting our students occurs off campus,” according to Doucettperry. While Doucettperry does see that most unwanted sexual conduct takes place off campus, she doesn’t feel this will affect student life. “I think students are students,” Doucettperry said. “By that, I mean that I really don’t anticipate them changing their behavior or tendencies because of a regulation that limits the jurisdiction of campus authorities. If they typically attend parties and other functions off-campus, I think they will continue to do so. That said, these proposals will have some effect in that students would need to report incidents to local authorities (e.g., Reno Police Department) the University would still be able to provide resources to affected students, but would have no authority to govern are otherwise regulate the underlying conduct.” Student and sexual assault victim Alexis Downey fears this will negatively impact students, as Title IX help students on a

more personal level than law enforcement can. “Things usually get taken care of because Title IX steps in,” Downey said. “I would almost say they’re more needed than the police in these cases for the fact that they help survivors to not have to interact with their assaulters on campus. They hold the fraternities accountable, they’ll deal with the guy next door in the dorm so you don’t have to seem him. That would 100 percent have a negative affect on students and the university as a whole.” Project Coordinator Heather Kaminsky of Nevada Cares, a project aiming to increase education on intrapersonal violence, feels the proposed changes may require increased educational programs for groups on campus.

Olivia Ali can be reached at oali@ sagebrush.unr.edu or on Twitter @OliviaNAli.

Black Culture Cooperative celebrates Black History Month

Taylor Johnson/Nevada Sagebrush

The Center as it stands on Monday, Feb. 4. The Center and the Black Culture Cooperative are hosting events to celebrate Black History Month.

By Taylor Johnson The Center and Black Culture Cooperative are hosting weekly events to celebrate Black History Month. The events included “The HipHop Stop”, “Blacktivism”, “Say it Loud”, “Hoops and Hood Culture” and the “#1000BlackGirlBooks Display.” The first event will be held on Monday, Feb 4. at 7:00 p.m at the

Graduate Student Center in the Joe Crowley Student Union. “Hip-Hop Stop” will have participants listen to music highlighting and acknowledging the Black experience and play card games, dominos and Black Card Revoked. The second event will be held on Friday, Feb. 15 at 6:00 p.m at The Center in the Joe. “Blacktivism” invites participants to talk about young black activists on campus and in black history and will have

materials for the participants to create their own protest materials. It will also feature a movie. On Thursday, Feb. 21, at 7:00 p.m. at Laughing Planet, the third event “Say it Loud!” will feature students using self-expression through poetry, music and sharing experiences. “Hoops and Hood Culture” is the last event which will be held on Thursday, Feb. 28 at 6:30 p.m. at the Blind Onion. Here, participants can paint and learn about the importance of women in hood culture and learn about the black community. BCC aims at outreaching, recruiting and graduating African-Americans students at the university. They offer study space, assistance with selecting courses, assistance with understanding financial aid, academic support, career advising by African-American staff members. “It’s important to learn about what people like me have done so I can also do cool things,” Diamante Asberry, a sophomore of the university and Queen in You Coordinator of Ambition Beauty Leadership Equality Women said. “It’s also important to remember where we came from and even if we think that slavery is gone and racism doesn’t exist anymore, it turns out, coincidentally that racism is still a thing. Be respectful and let black people talk in spaces that are for them and don’t take that experience

away from them. I’m proud to have black heritage. ” BCC also advertises other AfricanAmerican clubs, Divine 9 and other multicultural Greek life on campus. These include Phi Beta Sigma fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, Delta Sigma Theta, Lambda Phi Xi Multicultural sorority, Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity alumni chapter, A.B.L.E. Women, Black Student Organization and Sisters on a Move. “I think it’s a way to honor those who are African-American and broaden perspectives,” Zachary Xavier, a junior at the university said. “You think of black artists and think of hip hop and that’s unfair. There is not enough black representation in media. I think another thing is with a movie with an all-black cast people question why there isn’t anyone white in it. I think just overall we need to be respecting black culture as any other culture.” Carter G. Woodson and Jessie E. Mooreland founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History and sponsored a national Negro History Week in 1926.

Taylor Johnson can be reached at oali@sagebrush.unr.edu or on Twitter @OliviaNAli.

Be responsible, go to work after Super Bowl

Men’s Basketball extends win streak to GradFIT aims to help students apply to graduate school By Taylor Johnson As the University of Nevada, Reno’s graduate student population grows, the university has created pre-graduate school boot camps to help students prepare for their future. GradFit will be a five-day academic program, which will be held from May 20 to May 24, and be targeted to help students prepare, apply and understand graduate school options the university offers. “GradFIT introduces students to the opportunities, challenges and expectations of graduate school, as well as providing training and tips for the application process,” the university said on their website. In order to apply a student must have sophomore standing with the university and have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher and will need to fill out a liability form. Participants of GradFit will attend lectures, tour laboratories, take a workshop on Graduate Record Exam, receive training on communication skills with faculty, learn about fellowships financial aid and

have a panel discussion with current graduate students. GradFit programs will include business, education, engineering, English, hydrologic sciences, journalism, life sciences, physical sciences, psychology, public health, social psychology, social work, statistics and data sciences and public health. Residence housing will be available and participants can move in on May 19. There will be no cost to students because the university will cover lodging, meals, and supplies. GradFit is based on a program called NevadaFit, which was brought to the university in 2013. The program was modeled after Lousiana State University’s BIOS program. The university implemented it for 48 biology students but eventually, the university expanded to all colleges.

Taylor Johnson can be reached at oali@sagebrush.unr.edu or on Twitter @OliviaNAli.


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