Collegiate Title IX Coordinators' Experiences of Navigating Changing Social and Political Climates and the Impact on Campus Sexual Misconduct

Background and Purpose. Despite research, educational, advocacy, and funding efforts, sexual violence remains prevalent on college campuses. It is estimated that 1 in 5 female undergraduates may have experienced sexual assault while being a college student (Cantor et al., 2020). Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is a civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in education. Title IX coordinators are responsible for implementing Title IX policies on academic campuses, including policies aimed to prevent sexual misconduct. Besides navigating the challenges of addressing sexual misconduct, Title IX coordinators must respond to multiple changing social contexts (e.g., societal cultural and racial reckonings, #MeToo, COVID-19, etc.) that likely impact how their university responds to sexual misconduct. Within the past decade, Title IX offices have also had to interpret, adapt to, and navigate presidential administrations that have each issued different rules and implementations about Title IX. The purpose of this study was to explore how collegiate Title IX coordinators across the U.S. have been impacted by these various contexts. The research question was, “How are college/university Title IX coordinators experiencing their roles and responsibilities in response to the multiple and changing social and political contexts on their campuses?”

Methods. A survey was administered through Qualtrics and included closed and open-ended questions pertaining to demographics and institutional context, along with perceptions of Title IX on campus, Title IX policies, the evolving political landscape, and navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. Data collection, in collaboration with the Association of Title IX Administrators, began in October 2023 and continues through May 2024. The current sample includes 93 survey responses.

Results. Data analysis, which is ongoing because the survey has not yet closed, includes quantitative and qualitative components. Survey respondents are employed across a diverse sample of institutions, assessed by type (e.g., private, public, religious, etc.), geographical region, student enrollment, and student population. Preliminary qualitative analyses revealed themes related to burnout, lack of resources, competing interests, increased awareness, and care of students. The researchers will continue to thematically analyze the qualitative, open-ended responses and present descriptive statistical analyses with the quantitative, close-ended responses.

Conclusions and Implications. It is essential to understand how universities uphold, comply, resist, and interpret Title IX policies that are intended to protect students from sex discrimination. Researchers have shed light on the high emotional toll, stress, and pressure that some Title IX coordinators experience; yet there is a need to further examine the potential disconnect between the policy and implementation, by exploring how collegiate Title IX coordinators experience and navigate various changes to rules and regulations that impact how they respond to sexual misconduct on their campuses. Increasing our understanding of how college/university Title IX coordinators experience their roles and responsibilities within these contexts will enhance our ability to support students, work with academic communities to prevent sexual misconduct, and strengthen policy and advocacy prevention efforts at the local and national levels.