Delta raises awareness about Title IX

By Logan Miller, staff reporter. 

Title IX and Me is an event open to the public that presents education on social norms, communication, and consent on college campuses. The first meeting was on Nov. 14, 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., at Delta College in room N-007.

Other event meetings are on Feb. 6, 2017, from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., as well as on Feb. 20, 2017, also from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.

A round table of students and teachers discussed Title IX topics with Loyce Brown, Delta’s Title IX coordinator, and Laura Dull, a Delta College History Professor.

“We come through a system that wasn’t built for gender equality. But Title IX won’t go away because of an administration change [Trump],” said Dull.

Dull and Brown talked about the systemic problems that pregnant students have to manage. In the past, pregnant high school students could be kicked out of their school and sent to a substandard high school.

A big part of Title IX awareness is just that: making people directly affected by inequality aware of its existence and how it can help them. Delta can’t insist a student complete assignments at a timely rate if their doctor requires them to abstain from school, even if it’s an online course.

Teachers are wary about dropping students who are pregnant and have been absent for several classes. It’s a balancing act that needs to be worked out with Brown and her department at Delta.

“Regulation is only one sentence long,” said Brown.

Brown talked about the need for expanding the law and approaching student situations on a case-by-case basis. There has to be a fair amount of equality. College or workplace inequality typically involves women more than men, though it isn’t exclusive to women.