By the end of this term, the Title IX Task Force will be dissolving while the Title IX Student Advisory Committee continues
The Title IX Task Force on Sexual Assault Response and Prevention was created last year to take a deeper look at Augustana’s Title IX policy and report back to President Bahls and the Title IX team on ways to improve and better the policy. With the end of fall term coming, the Task Force will be dissolving and the Student Advisory Committee will be made permanent.
This committee will be made up of only students but will work very closely with the Sexual Health and Violence Prevention Committee. The co-chairs of the student-run committee are seniors Abby Roselieb and Kaylee Sye. The committee also works closely with the Title IX team and Augustana’s general counsel Sherri Curran.
“We want to keep open communication with as many people on campus as we can so that we can help provide student feedback on whatever they need and bring to them questions and concerns that the student body has,” Sye said.
With the permanence of this committee, those who have helped form and have worked on the committee since the beginning hope it can be a touch-point and voice for the students at Augustana, especially when it comes to Title IX related issues and prevention education.
“I think we’ve already done great work and we will continue to do great things with the support of the administration,” Roselieb said.
“The college is really focused on transparency and involving this committee is one of the many ways we are working to continuously have student input,” Emilee Goad, touch-point advisor for the student committee and Sexual Health and Violence Prevention Coordinator, said.
The goal for the student committee this term is to be an established group on campus and bring in new members. “Our overarching goal of the committee is to help the student body understand our school’s Title IX policy and to be a voice representing the student body when it comes to Title IX concerns,” Sye said. “We want to make sure that the Title IX team knows the student body’s questions and concerns.”
In order to accomplish this goal, the committee plans to set up a sort of “Office Hours” in order to to hear and answer other student’s questions and concerns. The “Office Hours” would be held throughout the year as a way to allow student’s voices to be heard. If a student needed to report a case, however, Emilee Goad will be present during those hours to help in that capacity.
The leaders of the student committee have many hopes for this group.
“This committee means that the student body will have a stronger voice when it comes to giving opinions on the Title IX policy,” Sye said.
“I hope that through our work, clearer policy language will be available for students and that the student body has more faith in the the Title IX system,” Roselieb said.
“Student voices need to be heard and their input is crucial to making changes to the campus culture. This committee is an important access point for those voices to make a difference,” Goad said. “Students need to be involved in the conversations and work that is being done around Title IX and sexual health and violence prevention, and this committee will be an ongoing way for that to happen.”
The application to join the Title IX Student Advisory Committee has since closed, but if a student has any questions they may contact the co-chairs: Kaylee Sye, [email protected], or Abby Roselieb, [email protected].