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Office of Title IX and Bias Compliance

Introducing the New Title IX Coordinator and Title IX Updates

Dear Members of the Loyola Community,

We are excited to welcome our new and returning students, faculty, administrators, and staff to Loyola for the start of a new academic year.

I am writing to share the news that David Tiscione has been named the director of Title IX, compliance, and assessment, and now serves as the University’s Title IX coordinator and 504/ADA coordinator. The new position and office exemplify the University’s enhanced investment into preventing and addressing sexual and gender-based misconduct.

Below I am including a letter from David, which gives an overview of the significant updates to our sexual and gender-based misconduct policies, procedures, and programs.

Sincerely,

Robert D. Kelly, Ph.D.
Vice President and Special Assistant to the President

 

 

Dear Loyola Community Members,

I am honored to step into the role of director of Title IX, compliance, and assessment. This is critical work for our community.

Below are some key updates related to Loyola’s sexual and gender-based misconduct program.

New Title IX Coordinator and Office
The University’s increased investment into preventing and addressing sexual and gender-based misconduct will significantly enhance our community member’s abilities to live, learn, and work in an environment conducive to their individual success.

With the creation of Loyola’s new Office of Title IX and Bias Compliance, the Title IX coordinator role and the ADA/504 role are now part of my position.

As the full-time Title IX coordinator, I now oversee Loyola's Title IX team, which includes Title IX deputies and Title IX intake officers.

  • Title IX deputy for faculty, administrators, and staff: Kathleen Parnell, Associate Vice President for Human Resources, serves in this role, providing supportive measures and coordinating investigations and adjudication of sexual and gender-based misconduct incidents for faculty, staff, and administrators.
  • Assistant director of Title IX, compliance, and assessment: The office is in the process of hiring an assistant director of Title IX, compliance, and assessment who will serve as the University’s Title IX deputy for students. We will introduce that person to the community when that position is filled. In the meantime, as the Title IX coordinator, I will coordinate all supportive measures and formal complaints for incidents involving allegations against students.
  • Program manager for the Women’s Center sexual violence prevention, education, and response coordinator: Melissa Lees will continue to serve in this role as Loyola’s confidential advocate providing many services, including as a confidential resource for students to consult with prior to reporting to Loyola’s Title IX coordinator, deputy, intake officers, or mandated reporters.

External Review of Title IX Policies
In Spring 2021, as part of the University’s action steps we had committed to, Loyola partnered with D. Stafford and Associates, an objective, external Title IX expert, to review Loyola’s sexual and gender-based misconduct policies and practices and make best practice recommendations for improvement. The reports can be found on Loyola’s Title IX website.

The Office of Title IX and Bias Compliance will use the recommendations to guide future directions in our sexual and gender-based misconduct prevention and response. We look forward to engaging the community continually in these changes.

Thank you to all those—particularly students—who participated in meetings with D. Stafford and Associates last year to give their perspectives and feedback on our policies and processes.

Change to Title IX Hearing Process
There has been a significant change to guidance from The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Previously, colleges and universities could only rely on statements or stories from hearing participants if they fully participated in cross-examination by a party’s advisor. This meant a complainant would have to answer questions from a respondent’s advisor or vice versa. However, recently, OCR gave colleges and universities the option to no longer enforce this provision during a Title IX hearing on campus.

Loyola determined this provision provided a burdensome barrier for hearing participants and could have potentially created a chilling factor that discouraged parties and witnesses from participating in the process. Therefore, we will no longer be enforcing it. This means that moving forward, in any hearings regarding sexual and gender-based misconduct allegations, the University will consider all relevant statements collected in the process regardless of an individual’s participation in the hearing or cross-examination.

As this was one of the more challenging aspects of the 2020 Title IX regulations, this is a positive change to increase trust in the sexual and gender-based misconduct process.

Closing
Our team will work to continually build trust with all Loyola community members as sexual and gender-based misconduct is an issue that affects us all. My personal commitment is to be available to connect with anyone regarding questions and concerns, so please contact me at dmtiscione@loyola.edu if you’d like to discuss these changes and our plans for the future.

Sincerely,

David Tiscione
Director of Title IX and Bias Compliance

Important Title IX Updates

New regulations from the United States Department of Education were scheduled to go into effect on August 1, 2024, after the final Title IX rule was released on April 19, 2024. Since then, the University has been monitoring pending litigation and updated guidance related to the regulations. The University will make the necessary adjustments to the policy or the process applied to comply with the most recent government laws, regulations, or court holdings. Until the injunction(s) are resolved, or additional guidance is released, we will apply the University's Sexual and Gender-Based Misconduct Policy for incidents that fall under the 2020 Title IX regulation jurisdiction, and we will apply the Sex-based Harassment and Discrimination policy for incidents that do not fall under the 2020 Title IX jurisdiction but do fall under the Sex-based Harassment and Discrimination policy. The Office of Title IX and Bias Compliance will provide updates as they become available. Applicable policies can be found on the Title IX Policy page. For questions, please contact titleix-bias@loyola.edu.