Title Mine and WU Planned Parenthood Generation Action hosted their second comment writing event Thursday, Jan. 17.

Grace Bruton | Student Life

KnowYourIX expert Mina Aria teaches Washington University students and faculty how to write an effective comment on new Title IX regulations at Title Mine’s Comment-Writing Party in December. Title Mine hosted a second Comment-Writing Party on Jan. 17.

Title Mine and WU Planned Parenthood Generation Action (WUPPGA) hosted the first comment writing party in response to the Department of Education’s proposed Title IX regulations Dec. 7.

Title Mine organizer junior Luka Cai hopes the January drive encouraged students to finish and submit their comments to the Federal Register before the Jan. 28 deadline.

The January event featured brief presentations by KnowYourIX representative Mina Aria and Brown school student Jodie Goodman, but the focus of the event was on the comment writing itself.

“I think our event in December was a very education-focused event,” Title Mine organizer sophomore Annie Johnston said. “We had a lot of speakers come, most of the event was listening to presentations and doing some initial brainstorming so that people knew what the changes were and what the implications might be. This time, we’re really trying to write and focus on getting comments out there, so I think it’s hard to compare the two events because we’re trying to do different things.”

According to Cai, the first drive in December influenced how Title Mine planned the January drive.

“One really big learning point we had was just getting everyone together and telling people to write is a very difficult process. So along the way we brainstormed ways to facilitate that writing,” Cai said. “One of those new things we implemented was having writing experts or tutors or facilitators and we split participants into roundtable groups focusing on different topics.”

At the event, Title Mine also shared a Google Drive folder with comment writing resources to attendees as well as a form where people could submit their completed comments.

“Having a public Google Drive where we preserve all the resources and the drafts from the last time I think really helps keep the momentum going and make comment writing less daunting so people don’t have to start fresh drafts this time,” Cai said.

Grace Bruton | Student Life

Students at an event hosted by Title Mine on Dec. 7 write a comment on the new Title IX regulations released by the Department of Education. Title Mine hosted the second Comment Writing Party on Jan. 17.

Cai also said another important learning point incorporated in the January event was the inclusion of a variety of perspectives.

“This time we invited community partners, people from the Writing Center…[and] Cindy from Safe Connections; she’s a crisis intervention counselor,” Cai said. “Having that community perspective was also really important and increases the legitimacy of the comments because they take into account not just the student perspective, but also community partners’ perspective and the perspective of somebody who provides services to survivors of sexual assault.”

Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Professor Jami Ake believes Title Mine’s events were helpful in breaking down the proposed regulations.

“I think one of the ongoing problems with the way things work in general… is it really does take somebody to distill those points and to say, ‘Hey, here’s really what that 167 pages is saying,’ and help you prioritize your thinking and where you stand with this and where you stand with that,” Ake said. “And if you can have someone translate that policy language into sort of really practical implications, then that’s always helpful because I do think it can be pretty obfuscating if you just pick it up and read it.”

Senior Meghal Sheth said she found the University’s handling of some cases and the treatment of survivors in the Title IX process unsettling last year.

“I think hearing survivor stories and how Title IX affects so many people especially on this campus really brought me here because the comment period really has a big impact in changing the law and changing the policies,” Sheth said. “So if we can get as many voices as possible to voice our opinions about this new Title IX policy hopefully that can instill some change in what’s happening nationally as well as bring voice to some of the concerns we have here at [Washington University.]”

Sheth believes the comment drive provided a great way for students to take action.

“I think it’s really, really incredible that students are actually doing this and bringing light to these issues that sometimes a lot of people don’t know about, because the thing is we can learn a lot about these things like gender-based violence and IPV [Intimate Partner Violence] in theory in classes, but to go out and actually do the activism and do the work and fight for that policy change is what’s really going to impact how these things change and how we support the survivors.”

Seniors Carter Paterson and Sophie Elliott also believe the comment writing drive acted as an opportunity to take action.

“I feel like we know how prevalent this issue is on our campus thanks to the brave voices of a lot of people over the past year, so now it’s absolutely on us to act out when we have an opportunity and this is an opportunity right in front of us to get involved,” Paterson said.

“There are other ways to get involved and take action to combat these sorts of things, but this is a really great environment to do that because it can feel like the majority of people don’t know about these issues or don’t care. So being here, you are surrounded by tons of people who support you and support the cause,” Elliott said.

According to Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Lori White, the University is still working on finalizing their own comment to submit in response to the proposed Title IX regulations.

“We’ve done a lot of work, [and] again I really want to commend the students for raising the issue particularly last spring, and we spent a lot of time over the summer responding to the concerns that our students identify,” White said. “We’ve been continuing to work on a whole range of recommendations based on the concerns that have been raised by students and concerns we also heard from other listening sessions. So we think as a University we have something important to say.”

Cai said the event had a successful turnout in engaging people at all knowledge levels about Title IX and believes the drive was successful in building community.

“I think regardless of how many comments we submit in the end…I think something that’s a long-term goal is getting people who are passionate about the issue to engage in a community and talk to each other,” Cai said. “To introduce each other and feel like they’re part of a larger community and movement at Wash. U. will be really helpful in helping us attract participants for future events and keeping the momentum of the movement going.”

Title Mine plans on holding another event before the comment writing period ends.

“The Federal Register is down and unable to take comments so I think the final deadline is going to be pushed back for a few days, at least according to Mina Aria from KnowYourIX. So we’re going to work with that extra time to finish up the comments that people [started],” Cai said. “I think we might host another more informal, less structured comment writing space for people. It might just be a small room in the Danforth University Center for people to come together and finish writing their comments.”