President Donald Trump’s choice for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, has yet to be confirmed, due to comments she has made about education policies in her confirmation hearing on Jan. 17.
Title IX is set up to create a mandatory safe space for any student who has been assaulted with unwanted sexual conduct but is unsure of how he or she desires to proceed or what to do from there.
Since she has not openly declared whether or not she will uphold Title IX on college campuses, Kathy Hargis, Lipscomb’s own Title IX coordinator and Vice President of Risk Management elaborated what this could mean for Lipscomb’s future.
“We want to do the right thing,” Hargis said, “and I don’t think even if the mandate goes away, [Lipscomb] wouldn’t [respond saying] ‘we don’t have to do this anymore.’ I still think in some element, we would keep some of this intact. In my opinion, it’s the right thing to do.”
If Lipscomb didn’t claim to subscribe to a Christian code of morals, Hargis thinks the situation would be quite different.
“It comes down to funding,” Hargis said. “There will be some schools who probably just don’t want to fool with it just because of the money, and they’re going to put it in their student handbook.”
The Title IX Compliance offices investigated the situation to ensure that a situation most likely occurred based on a preponderance of evidence. They then proceed to look out for the students’ physical, emotional and psychological well-being. Lipscomb’s Title IX coordinators offer physical help, safety plans, guidance, therapy and, potentially, no-contact orders to keep students safe.
“[Title IX’s influence] has a huge ripple effect,” Hargis said. “If you don’t go to counseling, you end up carrying a huge psychological and emotional burden for years down the road. So if we repeal that act, we remove that help, and leave them to deal with that on their own.”