By Leah McCluskey, Staff Writer
The campus community has had some questions regarding possible Title IX violations in light of some recent incidents at St. Bonaventure.
Erik Seastedt, the director of Human Resources and Title IX coordinator, outlined the logistics of Title IX.
“It is interesting,” he said, “Title IX became a law in the ‘70s and was related to sex discrimination and educational opportunities. It does not specifically talk about athletics, but that was its initial focus, as athletics is considered to be an educational program.”
He said the emphasis on athletics never went away, though the pendulum has swung more towards sexual violence, assault and discrimination.
“Athletics is just out of the lime light, and the purpose now is to provide a quality education to men and women equally and if sports are an educational opportunity, then everyone deserves the same quality of education,” Seastedt said.
Christopher Brown, director of the First-Year Experience program, is involved with Title IX education on campus.
“We not only have federal laws to adhere to, but we have state laws to reinforce as well,” Brown said. “One of the things I am partially responsible for is training new students about the policies surrounding consent, sexual violence and the expectations that we have on campus.”
Additionally, Brown stated the university requires all student clubs, organizations and sports teams to complete a Title IX training prior to their first meetings or events respectively.
Seastedt agreed that St. Bonaventure complies well with Title IX.
“Bonaventure goes above and beyond to ensure that all incoming students will be trained and offered programs pertaining to Title IX,” Seastedt said. “We are better than most, in terms of education.”
If an incident occurs on campus, Seastedt said the university offers a strong team of investigators that have been trained to handle these situations properly. The team is able to determine whether it was more likely than not that an incident violates Title IX policy, according to Brown.
“When it all comes down to it, it is a community effort,” Brown said. “As part of this community, we are responsible for knowing the expectations of this university and also responsible for treating each other right.”
Seastedt said Bonaventure succeeds in technical compliance and educating students to be proactive.
“Our focus is more on, and will continue to be on, keeping incidents from occurring in the first place,” he said.
If you feel as if you are a victim of a Title IX violation, there are ways to get help.
“There is an element of working together with the students to see where they want things to be taken, if they are allegedly a victim,” Brown said. “We have many local resources that can help with the process of recovery, and I cannot speak highly enough about them.”
