Action Steps

Create an End-of-Year report to enhance transparency about numbers and types of incidents, where they occur, how they are addressed, and other Title IX related tracking

The Office of Title IX and Bias Compliance released its inaugural end-of-year report in Fall 2022, the 2nd annual report in Fall 2023, and an end-of-year report will be released annually. The report will include statistics related to sexual and gender-based misconduct incidents, how they are addressed, and other Title IX related tracking.

Establish and grow a social media presence for Loyola Title IX

The Office of Title IX and Bias Compliance continued to grow their Instagram account, @TitleIX_LoyolaMaryland. The office conducted various campaigns throughout the year to raise awareness of Title IX related issues. During one campaign, the office collaborated with the Women's Center to publish statistics related to dating and domestic violence in conjunction with Sharon Donnelly Love, co-founder of OneLove, serving as the 31st annual Sister Cleophas Costello Lecture. For another campaign, the office published signs of unhealthy relationships in conjunction with Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Lastly, the office advertised various sexual and gender-based misconduct prevention and outreach events. @TitleIX_LoyolaMaryland reached over 2,700 accounts in academic year 2022-2023 with over 700 profile visits. We plan to continue regularly engaging with the community through this account and growing our presence on Instagram as a resource for community members.

Enhance semi-annual training with public safety to ensure best practices

The Office of Title IX and Bias Compliance, Women's Center, Residence Life and Housing, and Public Safety collaborated in identifying areas to enhance training and creating a training schedule to ensure best practices. The training included a review and discussion of types and signs of sexual and gender-based misconduct, discussion of the sexual assault response protocol, a discussion of how to be an ally to LGBTQ+ members of our community, a discussion of trauma-informed best practices, and a cross-departmental case study to ensure effective collaboration. The Office of Title IX and Bias Compliance, Women's Center, Residence Life and Housing, and Public Safety will continue to collaborate on regular training including additional training on emerging issues related to sexual and gender-based misconduct.

Develop resources specific to LGBTQ+ victims/ survivors/ complainants

The Office of Title IX and Bias Compliance created a resource webpage and resource guide for LGBTQ+ individuals who experience sexual and gender-based misconduct. Because LGBTQ+ individuals experience sexual and gender-based misconduct at a higher rate than individuals who are not a part of the LGBTQ+ community (2022 Loyola University Maryland Sexual Violence, Education, and Response Survey; National Violence Resource Center on Violence Against Women, 2009;CDC, 2010) and because further harm can occur if LGBTQ+ individuals are referred to resources who are not trained in providing support to LGBTQ+ individuals (National Violence Resource Center on Violence Against Women, 2009), Title IX collaborated with the resources in the resource guide to identify specific individuals trained to work with LGBTQ+ individuals and listed how support services provided support specific to LGBTQ+ individuals. Additionally, as part of the Loyola VAWA grant, the Coordinated Community Response Team (CCRT) conducted focus groups with LGBTQ+ students to enhance LGBTQ+ resources for LGBTQ+ individuals who experienced sexual misconduct. The CCRT will utilize this information to continue strengthening support for LGBTQ+ individuals.

Regular outreach to campus constituents, such as SGA and university administration, with updates about sexual and gender-based misconduct trends and best practices

The Office of Title IX and Bias Compliance, along with campus partners such as the Women’s Center, continued regularly meeting with campus constituents. In AY 2022-23, we met with the Student Government Association Executive Leadership, including completing a OneLove Facilitation workshop, Student Government Association Joint Conference, Loyola Do Better Executive Board, and Diversity Advisory Board to discuss the 2021-2022 End-of-Year report, action plan progress and concerns, and future plans. Additionally, the Title IX Coordinator and Director of the Women's Center served on a Women's History Month kickoff panel to answer questions about sexual and gender-based misconduct at Loyola. Lastly, the Office of Title IX and Bias Compliance again met with the Board of Trustees in Spring 2023 to discuss updates related to the sexual and gender-based misconduct program. The Office of Title IX and Bias Compliance plans to continue regular outreach meetings with these groups and plans to expand into other student and faculty/staff constituents.

Create and update pregnant, parenting, and lactation resources for faculty, staff, administrators, and students (newly added action step)

With the release of the Notice of Proposed Rule Making from the Office of Civil Rights for the new Title IX regulations, the Office of Title IX and Bias Compliance decided to proactively review policies and resources available to students and employees who are pregnant, parenting, or lactating. The Office of Title IX and Bias Compliance created a new section on their website, which discusses support for pregnant, parenting, and lactating students and has drafted a policy with an expected publication date of Fall 2023. Additionally, Human Resources, Facilities, and Title IX collaborated to identify existing and future lactation spaces available to faculty, staff, and students and updated the website accordingly. The Office of Title IX and Bias Compliance and Human Resources also collaborated to update employee policies, including those covering student employees, to comply with the recently passed Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and Providing Urgent Maternal Protections (PUMP) for Nursing Mothers Act. Work between the Office of Title IX and Bias Compliance and campus colleagues to support pregnant, parent, and lactating faculty, staff, and students and to comply with federal, state, and local regulations will continue.

Conduct a climate survey related to sexual and gender-based misconduct of undergraduate students and expand the survey to graduate students and employees

The Office of Title IX and Bias Compliance conducted the Sexual Violence Prevention, Education, and Response survey in January 2022 and results were published in the 2021-2022 End-of-Year report. We received a 21% response rate with nearly 800 survey respondents. The survey will be conducted during Spring 2024, and survey respondents will be expanded to include graduate students and employees.

Enhance Public Safety technology in line with best practices

Public Safety continued updating safety technology during AY 2022-2023. They collaborated with Recreation and Wellness to update the Fitness and Aquatic Center to a new robust closed-circuit television (CCTV) system for better security video coverage and safety. Additionally, Public Safety is creating a phased approach for installations of additional CCTV in areas where Loyola faculty, staff, and students have expressed interest in and Public Safety has identified a need for more coverage. Public Safety tested Everbridge and AlertUs across campus, and the system is now fully operational so desktops and digital signage will provide Loyola faculty, staff, and students with notice of serious incidents. Lastly, Public Safety created a specific section of its website dedicated to sexual assault and dating violence resources, so individuals attempting to access support through the Public Safety website will be connected with additional resources

Further Loyola community's understanding of reporting options and processes for addressing sexual and gender-based misconduct through campaigns

This is an ongoing goal we were working toward prior to this action plan and will continue working toward after completion of the action plan because of the nature of our community and sexual and gender-based misconduct processes. Specifically, we know each year we welcome new students and employees who need to be introduced to our processes, and we know the regulations regarding sexual and gender-based misconduct have changed regularly since 2011. This year, we took multiple steps to educate the community on reporting options and processes. Information about reporting options and processes were included in our first-year programming through Vector, Fall Welcome weekend orientation session, and Step Up!, Loyola’s bystander intervention program. Further, there were numerous outreach events to student organizations, classes, mandated reporters, student leaders, and campus departments. In total, attendance at these outreach events reached over 2,000 community members. Further, the Women's Center conducted 23 educational events to raise awareness about sexual assault, intimate partner violence, stalking, and sexual harassment, and attendance at the events surpassed 1,000 students. Lastly, the Women's Center and Title IX collaborated with Turnaround, inc. to create a lunch and learn series with topics including "Keeping Queer Love Safe" and "Consent and Boundaries." Loyola will continue finding creative and effective means of raising awareness within the community about sexual and gender-based misconduct - especially as regulations continue to change in the Title IX landscape.

Explore additional representation from campus constituents on campus committees related to sexual and gender-based misconduct such as the coordinated community response team

The Office of Title IX and Bias Compliance is reviewing membership on committees related to sexual and gender-based misconduct to ensure there is representation from campus constituents, such as faculty, staff, administrators, and students. The office has had exploratory conversations with Student Government Association Executive Leadership and the Coordinated Community Response Team about the necessity and possibility of expanding representation on sexual and gender-based misconduct committees. We plan to solidify the pipelines of representation in AY 2022-2023.

Monitor and implement changes related to Title IX regulations including Biden administration updates expected to be proposed in June 2023 and Violence Against Women Act

The Biden administration previously announced the notice of proposed rulemaking and draft regulations would be released in April 2022, but they were not released until June 23, 2022. Upon the notice of proposed rulemaking, there is a mandatory comment period of at least 30 days which can be extended often to 60-90 days. OCR must respond to the comments submitted by the public, and OCR shared that final regulations could be expected by May 2023. However, in May 2023, OCR announced they were delaying the final regulations until October 2023. Industry experts believe regulations may not be published until after October 2023. Loyola will monitor the release of the regulations and will comply with new regulations and timelines. Committees reviewing student and employee policies and pregnant, parenting, and lactating student and employee support have been meeting in AY 2022-2023 to explore the proposed rules and best practices to work toward a safer and more supportive Loyola community.

While OCR was preparing for the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Congress reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act in an Omnibus Budget Bill. Some of the initiatives that were included in the reauthorization Loyola University Maryland have already been administering including a biannual sexual violence prevention, education, and response survey and focus on restorative justice practices. While the regulations regarding the federal sexual violence prevention, education, and response survey have not been released, we will continue to monitor developments related to these legal issues and will continue to implement compliant best practices that make our process safe, trustworthy, and equitable.

Detail steps and options for informal resolution to offer additional resources to address sexual and gender-based misconduct

Create position descriptions for each position within the sexual and gender-based misconduct process