Title IX in COVID-19
By: Aly Sehl, Acting Title IX Coordinator
When I agreed to fill in as the Acting Title IX Coordinator while the current Coordinator was on leave, I had no idea what the spring semester would hold. Even though I knew a great deal about Title IX by having served as the campus lead investigator, I wanted to make sure I was as prepared as possible. I attended a national training and certification course in Orlando, Florida at the end of January. I absorbed knowledge, connected with colleagues from across the United States, and was able to enjoy the warm weather of Florida for a few days. It was on my way home, sitting in the airport, when I noticed a few individuals wearing masks and the women sitting next to me talking about airlines closing down travel abroad. This was the first I heard of the COVID-19 coronavirus. Little did I realize the impact this virus would have on me, the position I was about to take on, and our campus as a whole.
Looking back, the campus shutdown and virtual reopening happened so swiftly, I barely remember my last day in the office. I saved files on to the OneDrive and prepared what I could to work remotely. I packed up a box of belongings from my new office in the Student Memorial Center and set the phones to forward to my cell phone. As the Division of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management (SAEM), it is our job to engage and support students outside of the academic settings. We pride ourselves on our ability to connect with students and guide them through their social and emotional development. Continuing to do this remotely presented a challenge. Especially for me as I was learning a new position and now needed to figure out how to do it in a completely different way. From my new home office, I watched as the SAEM team jumped into action to engage our students to the best of our ability in a remote environment.
As a Title IX Office, we knew the Stay at Home orders from various states could mean that some of our students would be forced to stay in environments with their abusers. We also knew that stress and anxiety over COVID-19 could lead to incidents of domestic or dating violence. Therefore, it was important for our students to see we were still available from afar. We quickly updated our website, kept the phones on 24 hours and day, and continued to provide services to our students. We went through our cases and called students for wellness checks and to see how they were doing. Additionally, the Title IX Intern utilized social media to reach out to the Millersville community with educational materials. On May 6, 2020, The Department of Education dropped the Final Rule on Title IX Federal Regulations. This presented a whole new set of challenges that we are working through with our sister schools within PASSHE.
We are all living in what has been deemed the “New Normal”. It is not ideal but I believe our staff, our faculty, and especially our students have stepped up into their roles and have done an incredible job adjusting. As we begin the slow transition into the next phases, I look forward to seeing how our community responds. We are all in this together, and I have never been prouder to be a Marauder.