The Title IX Coordinator is the chief administrator tasked with ensuring institutional compliance with Title IX, but scant literature exists about how Title IX Coordinators come to their role, how they gain the skills, competencies, and knowledge required to ensure institutional Title IX compliance, and how they juggle ethical considerations of fidelity, justice, autonomy, beneficence, and nonmalfeasance. The purpose of this study is to understand how TIX Coordinators make meaning of their role on campus and their role in institutional compliance with Title IX mandates. This qualitative research project uses a semi-structured interview protocol to enable participants to reflect on the skills, competencies, and knowledge they use to develop and implement policy change in their role, and in response to federal unfunded mandates, as well as the ethical considerations that they must balance in executing these duties. This research focuses on seven participants who are Title IX Coordinators at four-year institutions located in the United States. Findings indicate that Title IX Coordinators believe that they gain their skills and knowledge about being Title IX Coordinators from prior experiences, including their own childhood experiences. Participants believe that empathy, communication skills, and an ability to persevere are major competencies that Title IX Coordinators need to possess. Findings also indicate that participants exhibit strong fidelity to institutional compliance with TIX regulations and procedures, even when they may not fully agree with them. Findings also indicate that participants do not believe that the current Title IX regulatory scheme promotes justice, leading to a conclusion that, as currently constituted, the role of the Title IX Coordinator is impossible. This study also identifies some practice and policy areas future discussion and research. / Doctor of Philosophy / Title IX is a federal non-discrimination law that requires educational institutions receiving financial assistance from the federal government, often in the form of student loans and research grants, to ensure that their educational programs and activities are free from gender-based discrimination. Sexual assault on college campuses is viewed as an issue of gender-based discrimination because it can create an environment where individuals, regardless of their gender and gender-identity, are victims of sexual harassment in violation of Title IX. Through a series of guidance documents and federal rules, institutions are now required to have a Title IX Coordinator, a person who is in charge of ensuring compliance with Title IX. While still a relatively new role on college campuses, little research has been conducted about Title IX Coordinators, their roles, what types of skills they need, and how they approach their work. Seven Title IX Coordinators at four-year institutions in the United States were interviewed for this study. Analysis of these interviews found that Title IX Coordinators bring what they have learned from prior work and personal experiences to their work in Title IX and believe that their jobs primarily exist to ensure that their institutions are not sued for violating Title IX. Because participants believe that ensuring institutional compliance is expected to be their highest priority, they do not think that the current Title IX rules allow either people who are victims of gender-based discrimination, or those accused of engaging in gender-based discrimination, to receive any form of justice. This duty to serve and protect, in the face of a system that does not provide justice, leads to the conclusion that, as currently constructed, achieving the goals of Title IX on college campuses is impossible because the Title IX Coordinator is stuck in a system that does not achieve its ultimate goal: to eliminate, or at least reduce, gender-based discrimination and ensure access to education.

Thesis advisor: Heather T. Rowan-Kenyon / The purpose of this study on university handling of Campus Sexual Assault (CSA) was to understand the experiences of Title IX Coordinators as key administrators in this work. CSA continues to be a pervasive problem, and the dialogue on campuses and externally is highly contentious. Guidance from the federal government, combined with a recent surge in lawsuits against universities, have created a precarious legal context for CSA that is exceedingly difficult for universities to manage. How institutions handle the array of moving parts with CSA is largely absent from the current literature. This study interviewed university Title IX Coordinators, who are responsible for overseeing the institutional response to CSA and therefore are uniquely positioned to offer insight into how universities are handling the problem and the internal and external factors that are playing a role. Sixteen interviews were conducted of Title IX Coordinators responsible for overseeing student CSA matters at NCAA Division I institutions. The research questions guiding this study included: (a) how do Title IX Coordinators handle and carry out their responsibilities related to CSA; what shapes the ways in which Title IX Coordinators handle their responsibilities related to CSA, and (b) how does university culture influence Title IX Coordinators’ work related to CSA? The theory that emerged from the data indicates that Title IX Coordinators have an array of complexities to navigate in their CSA work, stemming from an interplay of both internal and external pressures and factors, that can lead to a range of outcomes that are most often negative. Using grounded theory methodological procedures, a theory and visual model were generated to explain the interactions among the following components: Title IX Coordinator values and priorities; processes involved in CSA work; university culture and structure; collaboration with and management of university partners; the legal landscape and external context; and case outcomes and Title IX Coordinator impact. The theory has implications for policy, for Title IX Coordinators and universities, and for future research. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Male survivors of sexual assault face increased mental health concerns due to commonly held beliefs and lack of quality services. College and university administrators, under guidance provided by the Office for Civil Rights and the Department of Education, must respond to all incidents of sexual misconduct, no matter the gender identity of the complainant or respondent. The purpose of this multiple case study was to investigate how the Title IX Coordinators at small colleges understand and implement governmental guidelines to decrease the secondary victimization experienced by male survivors by analyzing current policies and programs. Critical theory provided the conceptual framework for the study. The participants were 4 Title IX Coordinators employed by small colleges. Two participants were selected from a list of schools under investigation by the Office for Civil Rights and two from a random selection of all small colleges in the United States. Data collection occurred through semistructured interviews with Title IX Coordinators and a review of services provided to survivors of sexual assault. Analysis of the data included cross-case synthesis to identify emergent themes. Participants focused on the equality of services provided to all survivors; however, more focus should be placed on equity in services to overcome the oppression facing male survivors. Training involving the collegiate and surrounding communities may achieve the social change needed to support male survivors of sexual assault. Title IX Coordinators may act as catalysts of social change that begins on campus and expands to the surrounding community.