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Office of Title IX and Bias Compliance

Loyola’s progress related to sexual and gender-based misconduct

A message from February 1, 2022

Dear Members of the Loyola Community,

In September 2021, students and other community members came together on the quad to share concerns related to sexual and gender-based misconduct at Loyola. We heard you. Loyola continues to listen to concerns that community members have been raising, and we have been working actively to continue improving sexual and gender-based misconduct prevention, education, and response.

Today, we reach out to offer an update on our ongoing progress in these areas.

Ongoing Progress
As part of the commitments we made in the 2020 action plan, Loyola has made the following achievements:

  • Created the Office of Title IX and Bias Compliance with two full-time staff members dedicated to preventing and addressing sexual and gender-based misconduct
  • Created a diverse pool of Title IX intake officers to increase the number of staff specifically trained in receiving reports and providing support to community members experiencing harm
  • Established an advisory board of students to enhance student driven sexual and gender-based misconduct prevention and education
  • Enhanced training for mandated reporters and hearing officers including partnering with the SUNY Student Conduct Institute and training over 550 employees through over 20 trainings. Additionally, each hearing officer completed more than 10 hours of training through a variety of virtual modules and live trainings.
  • Completed an assessment with an external, objective organization to review and recommend changes to policies and practices

The Next Steps
As we complete the first action plan, we know there is still work to do to build trust with the community and continue enhancing our sexual and gender-based misconduct prevention, education, and response. Therefore, we will begin work on a new action plan, which can be tracked on the Title IX website. Highlights of the new action plan, which was developed in collaboration with University leadership and campus colleagues, include:

  • Create an end-of-year report to enhance transparency about numbers and types of incidents and how they are addressed
  • Conduct a climate survey related to sexual and gender-based misconduct of all undergraduate students and expand the survey to graduate students and employees; the undergraduate student survey is being administered now, and students received a survey link via email
  • Develop resources specific to LGBTQ+ victims/survivors/complainants
  • Detail steps and options for informal resolution to offer additional resources to address sexual and gender-based misconduct when complainant and respondent request informal resolution
  • Establish regular outreach to campus constituents, such as the Student Government Association and University administration, with updates about sexual and gender-based misconduct trends and best practices
  • Establish and grow a social media presence for Loyola Title IX at @titleix_loyolamaryland on Instagram
  • Enhance semi-annual training with public safety to ensure best practices
  • Enhance Public Safety technology in line with best practices 

Additionally, we will continue monitoring federal regulations and court cases to ensure we are implementing a compliant process. In addition to implementing what is required by law, Loyola will continue to stay up to date on best practice and trauma-informed training to ensure our process is one community members know about, trust, and utilize in situations where they experience harm.

Conclusion
Thank you for taking an active part in supporting this work that is so critical to our Loyola community. I look forward to being in touch again with further updates as we continue to put these plans into action.

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.