Ask colleges’ Title IX coordinators today about their responsibilities, and you’ll hear a long list. They’ll talk about sexual-assault prevention, investigations, and educational programming. Or the sometimes dizzying complexities of the federal gender-equity law called Title IX, which are prompting more colleges to devote whole offices to compliance.
The Association of Title IX Administrators, known as Atixa, on Thursday released the results of a survey of coordinators and other Title IX officials at more than 400 institutions, examining coordinators’ duties at a time when colleges face pressure on all sides to improve their handling of sexual-assault cases. The job used to be a responsibility handed over to various administrators without much fanfare. Earlier this year, however, the Education Department reminded colleges that they are required to designate a Title IX coordinator, and many in that role say the job calls for full-time commitments.
But just 10 percent of the coordinators surveyed by Atixa said they had no other major responsibilities. Almost 40 percent of coordinators surveyed said they had been on the job for less than a year. Half of the survey’s respondents said their colleges had no specific budget devoted to Title IX. About half of the coordinators who split their time between Title IX and other duties said they did not receive a stipend for their Title IX work.
Brett A. Sokolow leads the Ncherm Group, the law and consulting firm formerly known as the National Center for Higher Education Risk Management, which helped create Atixa, though they are independent organizations. He said the number of full-time positions would probably increase as the role of Title IX coordinator becomes more professionalized. That trend could mean more lawyers’ being recruited for the role, and it could also come with a price: 40 percent of full-time coordinators command salaries in excess of $100,000, according to the survey.
Still, Mr. Sokolow said, institutions are becoming aware that there’s an immediate need to invest in Title IX compliance. The law, he said, “costs far more to ignore than to comply with,” citing the more than 100 colleges that the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is investigating for potential violations of Title IX. The Chronicle spoke to several Title IX coordinators about the survey’s findings and their job responsibilities.
Belinda M. Guthrie, Title IX coordinator at Santa Clara University, in California
Ms. Guthrie said the survey results show that institutions are devoting more resources toward Title IX efforts, but some colleges are still struggling to keep up with the “frantic pace” of the evolving conversation around Title IX.
At Santa Clara, a midsize university, Ms. Guthrie is a full-time coordinator who has been in the role since October. She has a budget for Title IX, allowing her to lead extensive programming and training efforts, and she’s in the process of hiring a full-time investigator. She thinks that on many campuses the coordinator role will increasingly become a full-time job.
She doesn’t believe a law degree is necessary, though. She didn’t go to law school, but she has more than a dozen years of experience in compliance work at colleges.
Being a lawyer, she said, doesn’t mean you’re adept at “navigating the nuances of higher education.” The Title IX role requires working with students, faculty, and staff as much as interpreting the law and conducting investigations, she said, and an effective coordinator “has to have both the science and the art down.”
Dawn B. Floyd, Title IX coordinator at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Ms. Floyd thought the number of full-time coordinators would be higher, given how many job postings she’s seen for Title IX positions at colleges.
She was brought to the Charlotte campus as the first full-time coordinator a year ago. Her office includes a full-time investigator and an administrative assistant, and Charlotte has also hired a staff member who handles compliance with the Violence Against Women Act and who specializes in preventing interpersonal violence. She considers such a team “the minimum for big schools.”
Ms. Floyd has a law degree, a background that she said had been “crucial” for her understanding of Title IX. Such expertise can be learned without law school, she said, but “a lawyer is a good choice if you have the funding.”
She, too, expects to see more campuses hire professional coordinators. The UNC system’s administration, she said, “is supportive of everybody moving toward having a full-time coordinator,” including the smaller campuses.
Adrienne S. Maslin, dean of students and Title IX coordinator at Middlesex Community College, in Connecticut
Ms. Maslin said she wasn’t surprised that the percentage of full-timers was small, given the budget cuts that have squeezed most public institutions and the financial challenges that face some private colleges.
Her Title IX role adds to her other duties. She said she spends about 15 percent of her time on compliance during much of the academic year, devoting more time in the summer and at the beginning of each semester.
The number of Title IX-related complaints at her institution is small, she said, largely because the college isn’t residential and doesn’t have athletics programs or Greek life. She said Middlesex doesn’t have a specific budget for Title IX, though she provides training for faculty, staff, and students.
But she said it has never bothered her that she doesn’t receive a stipend for the work. “As a dean, I just feel that it’s my responsibility when it’s something that doesn’t seem to fit into any other category neatly,” she said.
Lisa Miller, director of human resources and Title IX coordinator at Molloy College, in New York
Ms. Miller has served as Title IX coordinator for eight years, giving her an acute perspective on how much campus compliance has changed. Title IX work at Molloy, a small college, now takes up about 30 to 40 percent of her time.
She is not paid a stipend, and she knows of several human-resources administrators at private colleges who are in a similar situation.
“When we took on the role, nobody expected it to become what it has become,” she said. It’s not something most colleges have budgeted for, she said.
Still, Molloy has a Title IX budget, and Ms. Miller has discussed the possibility of a stipend with the college’s leaders. She said they were committed to investing in training and education efforts for the campus.
Eric A. Kidwell, director of the library and Title IX coordinator at Huntingdon College, in Alabama
Mr. Kidwell’s path to becoming a Title IX official at Huntingdon, a small college in Montgomery, is a bit unusual: He’s the head librarian.
He said he probably had been asked to serve as coordinator because of his 28-year tenure at Huntingdon. But his background is valuable, he said, because Title IX has a significant effect on colleges’ libraries, given how many students they employ. For example, when student library workers are on the clock, they are considered mandatory reporters, meaning they must report to college officials any Title IX violations they may encounter.
Mr. Kidwell is a part-time coordinator, and he said Title IX is taking up about 90 percent of his time right now, though that number can drop as low as 10 percent during the academic year. He receives a stipend for his extra work, but he called himself “one of the lucky ones.”
Small colleges like Mr. Kidwell’s might not need a full-time person at the moment, he said, but colleges should offer stipends if they want to take Title IX compliance seriously. “You’re expecting people at your institution to keep your feet out of the fire,” he said, “and you’re not willing to compensate them for this?”
