After receiving a letter from a student representative who left a mandatory Title IX workshop with concerns, The Signal sat down with Julie Johnson, Campus Compliance Officer and Deputy Title IX Coordinator, to clarify Title IX and gain her perspective on the situation.
Johnson described Title IX as essentially paralleling the Civil Rights movement because it allows for equal access and opportunity for all people in regards to gender in education.
She pointed out that President Obama and the Department of Education identified sexual violence and harassment as a reason some female students fail to progress academically in comparison to males.
With the Villapudua’s letter on her desk, Johnson expressed how she felt about the his initiative to write the letter.
“I was very impressed with his letter; I was very impressed with how well he articulated his concerns,” Johnson said. “I enjoyed that he picked up on these issues. Hopefully that’s something we can develop as a community to keep inclusivity be in that mind.”
Johnson emailed Villapudua in response and offered to set up a meeting to further discuss his concerns, which he responded to.
Derek. L Marchman, the Worthy Grand Procurator and a brother of a different chapter of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity, was vetted by Johnson before presenting the Title IX workshop, “Accountability and Social Responsibility.”
“I reviewed his presentation summary, and there was no indication from the summaries that his message would be of concern for our audience,” Johnson said. “Everything was right.”
The number one goal of the university’s Stop Abuse campaign is “Educating the campus community about sexual assault, domestic violence, stalking and related issues to raise awareness and promote a non-violent campus community.” We asked Johnson if she felt Marchman’s workshop was counteractive to this goal.
“I don’t know if it’s counteractive,” Johnson said. “I want people to speak up and bring forward concerns.”
In response to whether or not the information given by Marchman was incorrect, Johnson shared her view on the language he used.
“I don’t think the bystander intervention message he gave was wrong, I just don’t think it was inclusive or well articulated,” Johnson said. “I believe he did not mean to intentionally offend people; however, I can see how some people were offended by his presentation.”
Johnson made it clear that she wants more students to take the first step in speaking up as Villapudua did by submitting a letter to her.
“What I want people like Juan to do is exactly what he did,” Johnson said.“To speak up and present his concerns. It’s not that we’re not going to deal with concerns, but it is about how you deal with them.”
When asked if she thought it was an issue that the university was marked as a “presenter” in support of a workshop in which the speaker’s presentation style was controversial, Johnson responded by addressing concerns of any presenters that come to speak to the campus community.
“Making sure people bring the right message to our audience is always an issue, there’s always a risk,” Johnson said.
When asked if the Title IX coordinator and university in general should have stronger control over being the primary source for these workshops, Johnson’s response was centered around how the message these workshops work to provide would not be as effective through that approach.
“We want this message to be incorporated and presented to students by students,” Johnson said. “I don’t want to control it that much because these are the issues this needs to be issues the students face. I want to educate people, tell them what the concerns are and how to be inclusive. One hour listening to someone talk is not very effective, it is a start, but we have to keep the conversations going.”
In response to the question of whether or not Human Resources would support Marchman returning for workshops in the future, Johnson stated that the support of the university would not be given lightly.
“If we would support bringing him back, it would not be without a serious conversation and a thorough review of his presentation materials,” Johnson said. “After considering how we can best use limited resources, I believe we can serve our students better in the future by offering different presentations, not another one by Mr. Marchman.”
