- Gender Inclusive Initiatives
I. Call to order
Meeting of the Campus Committee on Sexual Responsibility & Misconduct (CCSRM) began at 1:00PM on November 14, 2016 in Berkus 243B.
II. Members Attending
The following individuals were present:
Elizabeth Wu, Lani Cupo, Heather Lukes, Marianne Frapwell, Dana Michels, Olivia Sabins, Ruth Jones, Jordan Brown, Vivian Garay Santiago, Thomas Wesley, Jacob Alden Sargent
III. Administrative Matters
A. Dates/topics of remaining Fall ’16 committee meetings
· Dec 5 – Prevention Education
IV. Gender Inclusive Initiatives
1. Background
A. College policy prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex or gender.
B. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights (OCR) has interpreted Title IX as prohibiting gender including gender identity and gender expression discrimination (Interpretation of Title IX by OCR previously issued guidance documents is vulnerable to reversal under new administration). Private colleges can provide more protection that offered under federal guidance but cannot have policies contrary to federal policies.
C. Our objective is to do more than compliance.
2. What has been done?
A. Adoption of Student Preferred Name and Gender Policy
B. Transgender Guide
C. Converting single use restrooms to gender inclusive restrooms
D. Increased gender inclusive housing
E. Gender inclusive training for staff and administrators
3. Pending
A. Gender Inclusive Restroom Policy & accompanying FAQ’s
B. Employee Preferred Name & Gender Policy
4. Discussion of next steps
A. We discussed how we can as a committee advocate for more resources for the Queer House on campus. Title IX Coordinator will talk to Director of Res Ed about the rules for identifying and supporting themed housing and to explore funding for a washer dryer and computer and printer.
B. Title IX Coordinator needs to work with Res Ed to create some sort of communication that could go out to Queen House residents & RAs for now to get a better idea of their needs (as soon as possible), and then eventually share this information with the Â鶹ƵµÀcommunity with a timeline in place to meet these needs. It was agreed that we need to have more communication to the students on campus who are concerned about the lack of resources in this area.
C. Title IX Coordinator will check in with Rhonda about the current staffing situation for the ICC.
D. A policy that will soon be announced states that single use restrooms will be gender inclusive restrooms and that individuals can use the restroom that correlates to their gender identity. Once the policy is publicized, we need to create more education for all members of the community about the policy and will create an accompanying FAQ document. It was expressed that Orientation may be a wise time to educate incoming Freshman about this and other gender inclusive initiatives, and potentially have an HR/onboarding process for new staff members to become aware of this as well.
E. We as a committee need to continue thinking of more ways to support transgender employees on campus.