Title IX

On a new Teachers’ Lounge, host Peter Medlin talks with Northern Illinois University’s Dr. Lara Crowley. She’s the chair of the English department at NIU.

They cover how her department is making the transition online this fall, her work teaching and learning about Shakespeare in England, and the thrill of discovering 500-year-old poems!

Near the end they also talk a little bit about her kids getting into Harry Potter for the first time during the pandemic. So, indulge them as they geek out on that for a few minutes. Shout-out to the Ravenclaws.

In May, the Department of Education made sweeping changes to Title IX regulations.

The new regulations change the definition of what qualifies as sexual harassment under Title IX. To meet the new standard, harassment must be “severe, pervasive and objectively offensive.”

Shiwali Patel is the director of justice for student survivors at the National Women’s Law Center.

“These rules, kind of in total, really just turn Title IX on its head as a civil rights law,” said Patel.

Northern Illinois University's Title IX coordinator says there are changes being made to her office.  They come in a response to a student protest in May.  

Title IX prohibits sex discrimination at education institutions receiving federal funding.  Coordinator Sarah Garner says her office is currently in the process of hiring a Title IX investigator. 

It started with a Facebook post. Fayth Springer said that sparked her desire to protest.  

"I've been receiving a lot of support because there's a lot of people who are going through the Title IX process. There's a lot of people who didn't speak today who don't feel comfortable because the school has silenced them so much," said Springer.

Springer and around 50 fellow students marched recently through the campus of Northern Illinois University in opposition to the way the school handles cases of sexual misconduct.