In November 2018, the Department of Education released a list of proposed amendments to its Title IX statute, which focuses on the prevention of sex discrimination in the U.S. school system. Since the proposed amendments were made public, a 60-day window for public comments has been offered. On Jan. 14, NC State’s Women’s Center hosted a comment writing party that encouraged students to submit comments concerning the amendment.

Ramya Vishwanath, a fourth-year studying economics, spoke about her thoughts on the proposed amendments.

“I think that the proposed amendments in general are just extremely vague, and take back a lot of the work that was implemented over the past decade,” Vishwanath said. “Specifically, the off-campus reporting is concerning, just because so many assaults happen off campus and not really in university buildings, and [because of the amendments] those won’t be reported or really looked after.”

Kat Kirby, a fourth-year pursuing women’s and gender studies, said she believes one of the most impactful changes being proposed would be the new disregard for off-campus incidents.

“We have a huge study abroad program, and so not having any say if it is between two students who study abroad really concerns me because NC State has a whole institute in Prague,” Kirby said. “Also, we know a lot of students live off campus. A lot of students live in Stanhope, University Woods, The Station and all of these other places that are off campus that NC State does not technically own or have any jurisdiction over … Inherently, there will be more protection for those living in on-campus housing, and that is really unfortunate.”

Janine Kossen, associate director of the Women’s Center, hopes that the Title IX Comment-Writing Party, as well as the open forum hosted last week, will give students and faculty the chance for students to voice their thoughts on the amendments.

“It is really an opportunity for students to have their voices heard, and not just students but any community member who cares about this issue,” Kossen said. “I am hoping that there will be more students who are aware of the changes. There is a lot of request on students’ time, so it can be hard for individuals to make their voice heard. That is why we wanted to make sure we had the open forum last week and that we had this opportunity for folks to really dig a little bit deeper.”

At the event, those in attendance were provided with resources to better understand the content of the amendments, as well as advice on how to better compose their comments in order to properly convey their thoughts on the amendments.

“I think that the comment party was extremely beneficial,” Vishwanath said. “I’m a part of the Movement Peer Educators, which educates students on different topics related to interpersonal violence, and I still didn’t know much about writing comments or the specific aspects of the comment in order to make the message more powerful. Just the information that Janine was able to provide was really useful. Sitting down working with others who have a similar mindset was pretty helpful as well.”

The period for individuals to submit comments on the proposed changes opened on Nov. 29 and will close on Jan. 29. The Title IX Comment-Writing Party gave community members the opportunity to write, share and submit their opinions with one another.

Hanisha Naidu, a first-year studying social work, spoke about how each comment sent in will affect the outcome of the Title IX amendments.

“It’s definitely a good opportunity, but it also raises the question of whether or not they are going to listen to this feedback,” Naidu said. “As of this week, there’s been about 52,000 comments submitted, and the Department of Education must respond to every original comment. There’s only so much that people can do, and at the end of the day it’s up to a handful of people whether or not these changes are going to be implemented.”

Harper Bell, a third-year majoring in social work, also attended the event and spoke about her thoughts regarding the future of Title IX.

“My hope is that [the Department of Education] will hear that there are major concerns and real implications with these proposed changes that are harmful,” Bell said. “I hope they take into account the voices that are impacted. If they are going to change regulations, change them for the better to further protect people instead of harming them further. It feels like they are preventing resources.”

Comments can be sent in on the website regulations.gov.