The Student Senate passed a Title IX resolution at their meeting on Tuesday.
The resolution states that Lehigh’s Title IX protections remain the same as they have been in lieu of recent incidents.
Senate President Drew Smith, ‘27, said the resolution passed because especially with the civil case at Cornell and the federal regulations being rolled back, the Senate deemed it important to make a stance on protecting gender-based violence at Lehigh with all going on both at Lehigh and across the country.
Jazeera Avila, ‘29, head of the student rights committee, said the resolution was prompted by another senator at the previous meeting, who said there were some changes in the federal level of Title IX protections.
On Sept. 28, The Department of Education released a statement which said Title IX protections would be reversed to enforce the 2020 Title IX regulations, prohibiting discrimination against sexual orientation and gender identity.
The senator was concerned whether these changes would affect Lehigh students, especially considering the decisions Lehigh makes as a private institution.
The resolution emphasizes that Lehigh’s Title IX policies won’t change despite federal legislation which no longer protects students who experience sex and gender-based violence.
While federal Title IX protections may not explicitly state the inclusive protections for transgender and gender-nonconforming students, Lehigh’sTitle IX policies have and will continue to apply protections based on gender identity and sexual orientation through its dual resolution framework.
The resolution mentions the recent civil lawsuit regarding an the alleged rape at a Cornell University’s Chi Phi fraternity house in 2024 and the investigation of Lehigh’s Sigma Phi Delta after a sexually explicit message was sent to first-year students.
According to Senate, the resolution demonstrates that gender-based harm and sexual violence persist across all campuses and that students cannot depend on federal protections alone.
The university’s principles of equitable community, and policy on harassment and non-discrimination allows Lehigh to go in greater depth on what constitutes policy violation than the federal level will.
Student Senate said they will uphold unwavering commitment to fostering a safe and inclusive campus environment and endeavors to uphold the belonging for all students.
They also said Senate will prioritize collaboration with the appropriate administrative offices, including the Office of Equal Opportunity and the Title IX Office, to meaningfully address the broader systemic concerns and develop sustainable and comprehensive solutions to strengthen the overall campus climate.
This collaboration includes:
- Annual training for the Title IX Office and the members of the student rights committee to ensure thorough understanding of the service and policy
- Reviewing data from the upcoming Title IX assessment efforts to identify student concerns and areas for improvement
- Ensuring the student rights committee will assist in the planning and follow-up with Title IX focus groups
- Collaborating with the Title IX Office to develop educational programming and resource information for student feedback
- Providing students with clear information on available Title IX resources
After Avila presented this resolution, the floor was opened for discussion and amendment proposals.
Senators proposed several adjustments to specific verbiage in the drafted document.
“I personally believe that in order to emphasize the severity of the situation and of sex and gender-based violence in our country specifically on university campuses, that we should call it as it is, an alleged rape, because it is an alleged rape,” Senate Parliamentarian Heidi Bauer, ‘28, said.
Another change came from a senator who proposed for the Senate to go further than saying “insensitive,” since they said the situation is more than insensitive. She proposed that vulgar would be a better term. The motion to change the verbiage from insensitive to vulgar was approved.
Mariana Roldán, ‘28, Senate vice president, asked what Senate’s thoughts were of the inclusion of what happened on Lehigh’s campus as the document specifically mentions, “the incidents surrounding the sexualization of queer women at a fraternity house on Lehigh campus.”
No one opposed this inclusion.
“We wanted (the resolution) to be something that made it clear what Lehigh stands on, but also what we’re doing in our efforts with Lehigh to make students feel more protected during times like this,” Avila said.
The next student senate meeting is on Oct. 13.
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