see admissions

By CRYSTAL RAMIREZ

associate news editor

during Tuesday’s Title iX Town hall meeting held by the notre dame student government, Title iX board members and coordinators from the tri-campus community gathered to discuss the impact of new Title iX regulations. in light of recent Title iX changes came noteworthy alterations to the regulations and procedures in place on each campus. senior equity specialist at the University michael colonna noted the two primary ways these new provisions have altered the way universities have to respond to sexual harassment complaints during the Town hall. he said the provisions change the scope of Title iX and the procedures governing Title iX complaints. he continued by highlighting the implications brought upon the University by these new regulations on Title iX procedures.

The University has modified its process for addressing concerns of sexual harassment by employees, as such concerns must now be addressed through the new regulations’ formal process. in addition, the University developed processes to address student conduct concerns that do not fit within the narrowed definition of sexual harassment. The University 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 evidence and testimony is subject to cross-examination, including anything provided by the complainant, respondent or witnesses.

The Town hall also shed light on the main points of impact concerning the definitions of “regulatory Title iX,” “regulatory” complainants and “regulatory” alternative resolution

The University will still address all concerning behavior, but the definition of “regulatory Title iX“ has narrowed. as for regulatory complainants, they must

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.

Contact Crystal Ramirez at cramirez01@saintmarys.edu

Admissions

conTinUed From Page 1

students, 2,175 high schools were represented. associate vice president for undergraduate enrollment don bishop said the covid-19 pandemic made this year’s admission process challenging for both admissions officers and prospective students. due to health concerns and questions about international students’ ability to obtain visas in 2020, the University 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 there is less uncertainty about the upcoming academic year than the last. nonetheless, some lingering uncertainty about the fall semester and the pandemic has led the University to place 3,101 students on this year’s waitlist, making it one of the largest in recent years, according to bishop.

“With the uncertainty, 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 between 50 to 120 students will most likely be taken off the waitlist in early may.”

With extracurricular activities limited or taking place virtually 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 activities.

“reading the applications this year, we found that students did find ways to reach out and some of that was ingenious,” he added. bishop said the inability of prospective students to visit the notre dame campus due to the pandemic was another obstacle for the University. however, the admissions team increased their virtual outreach and recruitment efforts and tried to have more personalized contact with prospective students. despite indications of a national decrease in the number of first-generation and low-income college applicants, the University saw an increased number of low-income applicants. due to limited accessibility to standardized tests this year, the University did not require students to submit standardized test scores. bishop credited this decision for allowing more lowincome students to apply.

“one of the inherent benefits of test-optional is that it did encourage some students to apply who might otherwise not have applied,” he said. “We had an increase of about 500 students from lower-income households that had very high class performance.” earlier this semester, the University announced it will be continuing the test-optional policy in 2022 and 2023. bishop said the tests have been valued less over recent years and the University was considering implementing a testoptional policy before the pandemic. bishop said about 48% of this year’s admitted students are international students or U.s. students of color. as part of the 11.1% increase in total applications, there was a 9% increase in international applications. From the pool of admitted international students, 291 require an i-20 visa, 61 more than last year’s total. considering dual citizens, U.s. citizens living abroad and students from other countries with a permanent residence in the U.s., about 20% of this year’s accepted students have global connections, bishop said. bishop said the admissions committees noticed a greater amount of applicants with higher class performance. he attributed this trend to the test-optional policy giving students more confidence to apply and also the University’s increased outreach to first-generation and low-income students. as the University evaluates the possibility of permanently switching to a test-optional application, bishop hopes the class of 2025 can provide feedback on the admissions committees’ job of evaluating applicants without the typical value of a standardized test score.

“did we find a few more students that are just hardworking, really fascinating learners by being test-optional, and did we reward the right things?” bishop said. “We’re really going to want to watch this class.”

Paid adverTisemenT