Zoey Freedman: UCLA must do more to ensure students know their Title IX rights

Title IX is the University of California’s best-kept secret that everyone should know about.

The UC is in the process of finalizing much-needed revisions to its sexual harassment and sexual violence policies, including requiring faculty, staff and students to receive more specialized training to recognize and understand all types of trauma and appropriately deal with sexual misconduct on campus.

Although these new revisions reflect progress toward a safer, more informed campus and community when it comes to sexual violence, they are not the final solution. UCLA needs to go beyond simply changing the language of its policies by making sure students are informed of these changes and what these policies actually provide for students.

Students in advocacy groups can see what’s missing in policies and tend to be more informed because most likely they’ve gone through the process of filing a report, said Savannah Badalich, founder of 7000 in Solidarity and the Undergraduate Students Association Council’s Student Wellness commissioner. But, students outside of these groups tend not to be as informed on these policies.

By working with groups like 7000 in Solidarity, USAC and other groups on campus, UCLA can help students know their rights and know what kind of treatment and resources they are entitled to. Student groups should be the ones to initiate these education campaigns and find the language to inform other students of their Title IX rights, beginning at orientation and lasting throughout the academic year. However, the student groups need the backing of the university to make a lasting impact.

Not knowing your rights can have negative repercussions, particularly when choosing to report sexual misconduct. These rights can range from financial accommodation when a student needs to withdraw from school for a quarter after being sexually assaulted or transgender students’ right to a gender-inclusive bathroom, or undocumented students’ right to not have their status used against them when reporting sexual assault. But, if students don’t know they’re entitled to this, they won’t demand it.

An educational campaign to teach students about their Title IX rights should be introduced at New Student Orientation sessions so students are immediately aware of university and Title IX policies and the rights made available to them through these policies. UCLA needs to designate time during orientation specifically for these student groups to break down Title IX rights for new students and inform them of what UCLA students are doing to stay educated. This is particularly important because the first 15 weeks of college are when students are more likely to be sexually assaulted, Badalich said.

By introducing and explaining these policies at orientation and coupling it with the sexual assault workshops already offered, UCLA not only makes student rights protected by Title IX clear, but also makes the university’s concern for its students and their well-being even clearer.

Continuing a “know your rights” educational campaign put on by student groups throughout the academic year would further the information initially shared at orientation. These campaigns would work to break down the lengthy, legal language of Title IX into simpler language, highlighting exactly what students need to know. It’s important that student groups be the ones to initiate these campaigns because students know how to reach out to students best, ensuring that the information is made important on campus on a consistent basis and actually reaches a majority of the student population.

The university, with access to immense amounts of funding and therefore access to resources that the small budgets allotted to student groups do not have the scope to afford, would be crucial to ensuring these yearly campaigns are effective. These resources and large amounts of funding can be channeled toward putting out flyers and informational banners on campus, inside classrooms and in restroom stalls for students to see on a daily basis. And although not a great resource by itself, the university also has access to sending out mass emails to contact the entire student body at once to bring initial attention to these campaigns.

Most importantly, the university backing student efforts to educate their peers on Title IX rights sends a message in a different way. It sends a message to survivors and the students putting on these events, showing them that the university values their input and recognizes their experiences, making it apparent that it is there to join the effort to actually make change. It also sends a message to perpetrators and potential perpetrators: Sexual assault or sexual violence will not be condoned in any way on campus and that there are actually severe consequences to any sort of sexual misconduct.

Although new students are educated on safe alcohol consumption, being mindful of their surroundings and other tips on staying safe, they are not informed of the rights granted to them by Title IX or the treatment they’re entitled to if a sexual assault were to happen, despite the safety tips given at orientation.

By working together, UCLA and these student groups can inform students of the changes being made, both to the campus policies and to the campus climate.