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ndsmcobserver.com | WEDNESDAY, march 31, 2021 | The Observer
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Student government holds Title IX Town Hall By CRYSTAL RAMIREZ Associate News Editor
During Tuesday’s Title IX Tow n Hall meeting held by the Notre Dame Student Government, Title IX board members and coordinators from the tri-campus communit y gathered to discuss the impact of new Title I X regulations. In light of recent Title I X changes came noteworthy alterations to the regulations and procedures in place on each campus. Senior equit y specialist at the Universit y Michael Colonna noted the two primar y ways these new prov isions have altered the way universities have to respond to sexual harassment complaints during the Tow n Hall. He said the prov isions change the scope of Title IX and the procedures governing Title IX complaints. He continued by highlighting the implications brought upon the Universit y by these new regulations on Title IX procedures. The Universit y has modified its process for addressing concerns of sexual harassment by employees, as such concerns must now be addressed through the new regulations’ formal
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students, 2,175 high schools were represented. Associate v ice president for undergraduate enrollment Don Bishop said the COVID-19 pandemic made this year’s admission process challenging for both
process. In addition, the Universit y developed processes to address student conduct concerns that do not fit w ithin the narrowed definition of sexual harassment. The Universit y may still address actions that fall outside these new limits through non-Title IX policies, Colonna said. Colonna emphasized to students the need for formal complaints to be filed by either the complainant or the Title IX coordinator. Third parties cannot file a formal complaint on someone’s behalf. According to Colonna, another important development is all ev idence and testimony is subject to cross-examination, including any thing prov ided by the complainant, respondent or w itnesses. The Tow n Hall also shed light on the main points of impact concerning the definitions of “regulator y Title IX,” “regulator y” complainants and “regulator y” A lternative Resolution The Universit y w ill still address all concerning behav ior, but the definition of “regulator y Title IX“ has narrowed. As for regulator y complainants, they must
admissions officers and prospective students. Due to health concerns and questions about international students’ abilit y to obtain v isas in 2020, the Universit y enrolled 365 students off of the waitlist and into the class of 2024. Bishop said they do not anticipate accepting as many students from the waitlist this year, however, because
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RYAN PETERS | The Observer
Notre Dame student government hosted a town hall Tuesday for the tri-campus community regarding changes to Title IX regulations. Title IX coordinators spoke at the event, which was broadcasted virtually.
now file a formal complaint and participate in a hearing. Colonna mentioned that Alternative Resolution is not allowed for situations where the respondent is a faculty or staff member and the complainant is a student. Toward the end of the Town Hall, the speakers discussed considerations in student cases by addressing student concerns about other violations regarding parietals and alcohol. The Title IX coordinators mentioned students have anonymity when reporting
incidents or situations that took place in an environment not adhering to the campus’s policies and guidelines. They encouraged students to speak up when witnessing an incident with the motto “see something, say something.“ Saint Mary’s Title IX coordinator Nicole Hundt mentioned the same changes to the procedures and regulations at Saint Mary’s. She reiterated the need for complainants to file a formal complaint in order to take the necessary legal actions. Hundt also noted the resources
available to Saint Mary’s students. Dean and vice president of student life at Holy Cross Andrew Polaniecki commented on the thorough presentation about the policies of Title IX. He also mentioned the discussion happening on all campuses to ensure the students’ safety and noted the importance of having individuals on campus to whom students can report in order to ensure proper action is taken.
there is less uncertaint y about the upcoming academic year than the last. Nonetheless, some lingering uncertaint y about the fall semester and the pandemic has led the Universit y to place 3,101 students on this year’s waitlist, making it one of the largest in recent years, according to Bishop. “With the uncertaint y, we felt that we should do more waitlists in case we need more spots to be taken,” Bishop said. “Right now, our model tells us that bet ween 50 to 120 students w ill most likely be taken off the waitlist in early May.” With extracurricular activities limited or taking place v irtually at high schools across the world, evaluating applicants proved to be challenging this year, Bishop said. But some of the applicants have taken up unique activ ities. “Reading the applications this year, we found that students did find ways to reach out and some of that was ingenious,” he added. Bishop sa id t he inabilit y of prospect ive students to v isit t he Not re Da me ca mpus due to t he pa ndemic was a not her obstacle for t he Universit y. However, t he admissions tea m increased t heir v ir tua l out reach a nd recr uit ment ef for ts a nd t ried to have more persona li zed contact w it h
prospect ive students. Despite indicat ions of a nat iona l decrease in t he number of f irst-generat ion a nd low-income col lege applica nts, t he Universit y saw a n increased number of low-income applica nts. Due to limited accessibi lit y to sta nda rdi zed tests t his yea r, t he Universit y did not require students to submit sta nda rdi zed test scores. Bishop credited t his decision for a l low ing more lowincome students to apply. “One of t he in herent benef its of test-opt iona l is t hat it did encourage some students to apply who might ot her w ise not have applied,” he sa id. “We had a n increase of about 500 students f rom lower-income households t hat had ver y high class per forma nce.” Ea rlier t his semester, t he Universit y a nnounced it w il l be cont inuing t he test-opt iona l policy in 2022 a nd 2023. Bishop sa id t he tests have been va lued less over recent yea rs a nd t he Universit y was considering implement ing a testopt iona l policy before t he pa ndemic. Bishop sa id about 48% of t his yea r’s admitted students a re internat iona l students or U.S. students of color. As pa r t of t he 11.1% increase in tota l applicat ions, t here was a 9% increase in internat iona l applicat ions.
From t he pool of admitted internat iona l students, 291 require a n I-20 v isa, 61 more t ha n last yea r’s tota l. Considering dua l cit i zens, U.S. cit i zens liv ing abroad a nd students f rom ot her count ries w it h a perma nent residence in t he U.S., about 20 % of t his yea r’s accepted students have globa l connect ions, Bishop sa id. Bishop sa id t he admissions committees not iced a g reater a mount of applica nts w it h higher class per forma nce. He att ributed t his t rend to t he test-opt iona l policy g iv ing students more conf idence to apply a nd a lso t he Universit y’s increased out reach to f irst-generat ion a nd low-income students. As t he Universit y eva luates t he possibi lit y of perma nent ly sw itching to a test-opt iona l applicat ion, Bishop hopes t he class of 2025 ca n prov ide feedback on t he admissions committees’ job of eva luat ing applica nts w it hout t he t y pica l va lue of a sta nda rdi zed test score. “Did we f ind a few more students t hat a re just ha rdwork ing, rea l ly fascinat ing lea rners by being test-opt iona l, a nd did we rewa rd t he right t hings? ” Bishop sa id. “We’re rea l ly going to wa nt to watch t his class.”
Contact Crystal Ramirez at cramirez01@saintmarys.edu
Contact Ryan Peters at rpeters5@nd.edu
