President Steinmayer and the Lesley Administration: Take Title IX Seriously!
Lesley University Administration: President Janet Steinmayer, Provost Jonathan Jefferson, Vice President Shirin Phillipp, Dean of Students Nathaniel Mays, Interim Chief of HR Mary-Jane McLaughlin, Interim Title IX and Equal Opportunity Coordinator Heather
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused suffering and strain throughout the Lesley community and throughout the entire world. While most programs at Lesley are strictly remote, this does not mean that our support needs have lessened. They have in fact grown, but supports and support needs have become less visible in our online world. In the midst of COVID chaos, Betsy DeVos’ Department of Education released a massive set of harmful Title IX revisions that many have called harmful and have led to lawsuits from Massachusetts and 17 other states. The August DeVos revisions were put into effect after years of LGBT student rights being stripped by her administration.
The Office of DEI provides crucial services to Lesley students, which has been chronically understaffed and neglected by the university. Rather than rising to the challenge, understaffing and the lack of transparency at Lesley has been amplified by the pandemic. After more than six months without a permanent Title IX and Equal Opportunity Coordinator, the university has yet to advance the hiring process beyond the application phase. A revolving door of interim coordinators has filled the position since then, with full-time staff having to take the responsibilities of another entire position. The university has failed to publish the first Title IX/EO annual report that was promised in the DEI FY21 Strategic Plan (pg 8). Among other things, Lesley has also failed to condemn harmful Title IX policy, appropriately staff the counseling center, and keep up with harassment and violence education.
As members of the Lesley community and supporters, we demand immediate, comprehensive, and sustainable changes surrounding Title IX and Equal Opportunity at Lesley University through the following steps:
Hire a permanent Title IX and Equal Opportunity Coordinator by February 1st, 2021. We demand that the university publish and commit to a schedule for the entire hiring process, integrate community feedback into the hiring process. Candidates must be vetted through a diverse and representative search committee with emphasis on black, brown, and indigenous students and faculty having voice in the process. The search must prioritize critical, outspoken, and incessantly anti-racist candidates. The university must also publish in detail the recruiting, outreach, and hiring processes.
Fill the three counselor positions that were posted in September 2020 by February 1st, 2021. Commit to running the Counseling Center at a minimum with the same number of staff pre-pandemic by the end of the spring 2021 semester. We demand that the university publish and commit to a schedule for the entire hiring process, integrate community feedback into the hiring process. Candidates must be vetted through a diverse and representative search committee with emphasis on black, brown, and indigenous students and faculty having voice in the process. The search must prioritize critical, outspoken, and incessantly anti-racist candidates. The university must also publish in detail the recruiting, outreach, and hiring processes.
Maintain the 60-day timeline for Title IX investigations as was standard during the Obama administration, along with established timelines for the investigation process. Exceptions should only be made for substantial extenuating circumstances that must be clearly communicated on a weekly basis. Lengthy investigations are mentally and emotionally taxing for survivors, and clear timelines of the entire process would be beneficial for all parties involved. This standard should be adopt to all discrimination, harassment, and violence cases, not just Title IX cases.
Publicly condemn the DeVos Revisions. Make public commitments with detailed action steps on how you will support Title IX reform and condemn harmful policy in the future. This must include plans on (1) how to support LGBT students whose rights have been undermined by the DeVos administration and (2) advocating for the reinstatement of Obama-era LGBT protections. All of these must be included in the next Title IX/EO Strategic plan (demand 7).
Create, publish, and commit to plans on how assault and harassment education and prevention will be sustained throughout the pandemic. While violence, discrimination, and harassment will not often happen in person while we are mostly remote, that does not mean that it will not happen or that the community should be any less prepared for it.
Commission an external review of the implementation of Title IX at Lesley University, along with a parallel and incorporated committee for student oversight.
Produce and publish a 5-year Title IX/EO strategic plan by the end of FY21.
Produce and publish a comprehensive 5-year report of the Title IX/EO branch by the end of FY21. This report must be holistic and critical of the university and the Title IX/EO branch over the past 5 years. It must include all “items tied to institutional trends, patterns and data” as was promised for the FY20 annual report in the FY20 DEI strategic plan. To date, this report was never published on the Lesley website. This report, along with any other reports, strategic plans, surveys, or other data produced by the Title IX/EO branch that can be made available to the Lesley community must be publicly available as well.
Commit to continuously produce and publish annual Title IX/EO reports at the end of every fiscal year.
Commit to continuously produce and publish Title IX/EO community climate surveys. These should include, but are not limited to producing knowledge pertaining to (1) violence, harassment, and discrimination cases, (2) effects of COVID-19, (3) effects of public policy, (4) the effectiveness of supports at Lesley, (5) community needs, (6) the experiences of black, brown, and indigenous students, (7) the experiences of LGBT students, and (8) the experiences of disabled students.
That the university provides the office of DEI and the Title IX/EO branch with the proper tools, staff, funding, and continuous support that they need to meet these demands, to support students, and to serve the community at large.
We call on the University to issue a written public statement on its website and to send a system-wide email to all community members stating its commitment to all of these demands by November 30th, 2020. We look forward to hearing from you.
With power,
The Undersigned
Sponsored by
To:
Lesley University Administration: President Janet Steinmayer, Provost Jonathan Jefferson, Vice President Shirin Phillipp, Dean of Students Nathaniel Mays, Interim Chief of HR Mary-Jane McLaughlin, Interim Title IX and Equal Opportunity Coordinator Heather
From:
[Your Name]
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused suffering and strain throughout the Lesley community and throughout the entire world. While most programs at Lesley are strictly remote, this does not mean that our support needs have lessened. They have in fact grown, but supports and support needs have become less visible in our online world. In the midst of Covid chaos, Betsy DeVos’ Department of Education released a massive set of harmful Title IX revisions that many have called harmful and have led to lawsuits from Massachusetts and 17 other states. The August DeVos revisions were put into effect after years of LGBT student rights being stripped by her administration.
The Office of DEI provides crucial services to Lesley students, which has been chronically understaffed and neglected by the university. Rather than rising to the challenge, understaffing and the lack of transparency at Lesley has been amplified by the pandemic. After more than six months without a permanent Title IX and Equal Opportunity Coordinator, the university has yet to advance the hiring process beyond the application phase. A revolving door of interim coordinators has filled the position since then, with full-time staff having to take the responsibilities of another entire position. The university has failed to publish the first Title IX/EO annual report that was promised in the DEI FY21 Strategic Plan (pg 8). Among other things, Lesley has also failed to condemn harmful Title IX policy, appropriately staff the counseling center, and keep up with harassment and violence education.
As members of the Lesley community and supporters, we demand immediate, comprehensive, and sustainable changes surrounding Title IX and Equal Opportunity at Lesley University through the following steps:
1. Hire a permanent Title IX and Equal Opportunity Coordinator by February 1st, 2021. We demand that the university publish and commit to a schedule for the entire hiring process, integrate community feedback into the hiring process. Candidates must be vetted through a diverse and representative search committee with an emphasis on black, brown, and indigenous students and faculty having a voice in the process. The search must prioritize critical, outspoken, and incessantly anti-racist candidates. The university must also publish in detail the recruiting, outreach, and hiring processes.
2. Fill the three counselor positions that were posted in September 2020 by February 1st, 2021. Commit to running the Counseling Center at a minimum with the same number of staff pre-pandemic by the end of the spring 2021 semester. We demand that the university publish and commit to a schedule for the entire hiring process, integrate community feedback into the hiring process. Candidates must be vetted through a diverse and representative search committee with an emphasis on black, brown, and indigenous students and faculty having a voice in the process. The search must prioritize critical, outspoken, and incessantly anti-racist candidates. The university must also publish in detail the recruiting, outreach, and hiring processes.
3. Maintain the 60-day timeline for Title IX investigations as was standard during the Obama administration, along with established timelines for the investigation process. Exceptions should only be made for substantial extenuating circumstances that must be clearly communicated on a weekly basis. Lengthy investigations are mentally and emotionally taxing for survivors, and clear timelines of the entire process would be beneficial for all parties involved. This standard should be adopted to all discrimination, harassment, and violence cases, not just Title IX cases.
4. Publicly condemn the DeVos Revisions. Make public commitments with detailed action steps on how you will support Title IX reform and condemn harmful policy in the future. This must include plans on (1) how to support LGBT students whose rights have been undermined by the DeVos administration and (2) advocating for the reinstatement of Obama-era LGBT protections. All of these must be included in the next Title IX/EO Strategic plan (demand 7).
5. Create, publish, and commit to plans on how assault and harassment education and prevention will be sustained throughout the pandemic. While violence, discrimination, and harassment will not often happen in person while we are mostly remote, that does not mean that it will not happen or that the community should be any less prepared for it.
6. Commission an external review of the implementation of Title IX at Lesley University, along with a parallel and incorporated committee for student oversight.
7. Produce and publish a 5-year Title IX/EO strategic plan by the end of FY21.
8. Produce and publish a comprehensive 5-year report of the Title IX/EO branch by the end of FY21. This report must be holistic and critical of the university and the Title IX/EO branch over the past 5 years. It must include all “items tied to institutional trends, patterns and data” as was promised for the FY20 annual report in the FY20 DEI strategic plan. To date, this report was never published on the Lesley website. This report, along with any other reports, strategic plans, surveys, or other data produced by the Title IX/EO branch that can be made available to the Lesley community must be publicly available as well.
9. Commit to continuously produce and publish annual Title IX/EO reports at the end of every fiscal year.
10. Commit to continuously produce and publish Title IX/EO community climate surveys. These should include but are not limited to producing knowledge pertaining to (1) violence, harassment, and discrimination cases, (2) effects of COVID-19, (3) effects of public policy, (4) the effectiveness of supports at Lesley, (5) community needs, (6) the experiences of black, brown, and indigenous students, (7) the experiences of LGBT students, and (8) the experiences of disabled students.
11. That the university provides the office of DEI and the Title IX/EO branch with the proper tools, staff, funding, and continuous support that they need to meet these demands, to support students, and to serve the community at large.
We call on the University to issue a written public statement on its website and to send a system-wide email to all community members stating its commitment to all of these demands by November 30th, 2020. We look forward to hearing from you.
With power,
The Undersigned