The Mossy Log Archives
President Donald Trump has signed 60 executive orders in his first month in office, including “Defending women from gender ideology extremism and restoring biological truth to the Federal Government,” “Restoring the death penalty and protecting public safety”, “Restoring the death penalty and protecting public safety” and “Putting America first in international environmental agreements.” The whitehouse.gov website details bills proposing tariffs on imported goods and repealing multiple Biden-era orders set to advance racial and gender equality, strengthen Medicaid and affordable health care, improve access to voting and reunite migrant families.
Amongst this litany of policies are multiple bills aimed at eradicating Title IX protections for certain groups, namely eliminating consequences for gender-based discrimination in educational facilities. Title IX is a federal civil rights law applicable in every institution that receives federal funding. It prohibits sex-based discrimination, including sexual misconduct.
Trump’s anti-woke rhetoric and the condemning bombardment against gender-nonconforming and transgender individuals at a national level can be overwhelming and fear-inducing to some, but Lewis & Clark has maintained that it will protect its students.
Lori Makin-Byrd, LC’s Title IX coordinator, made clear that though there are many executive orders being thrown around, it does not mean they will all be codified into law.
“Those statements will likely be followed up by some kind of regulatory guidance,” Makin-Byrd said in an interview with the Mossy Log on Feb. 12.
Makin-Byrd explained that there are regulations that private institutions are able to instate which are not included under the umbrella of Title IX.
“We’re allowed to still classify gender identity and gender expression as protected classes, and so we are still allowed to, for instance, take complaints about discrimination or harassment based on gender identity or gender expression to investigate allegations and offer supportive measures,” Makin-Byrd said.
While Title IX is aimed at prohibiting discrimination in academic institutions from a federal level, institutions are free to accompany these with their own additions and measures to prevent and provide consequences for harassment. Because Title IX is a law sequestered to United States soil, it does not apply to institution-sponsored study abroad programs, thus requiring other terminology and proceedings to deal with these circumstances.
These non-Title IX regulations are used to further protect students on campus.
“We really think about the behaviors we want to address. We want to address sexual harassment that happens in an educational environment, even if it’s happening in Ireland, for instance. We want to address discrimination harassment on the basis of gender and identity and expression, even if it’s not Title IX harassment, we are still going to address it. We’re still going to have to follow procedures, it’s just going to have a different label,” Makin-Byrd said.
The Trump administration is currently trying to remove Biden’s updated Title IX policies and return to the policies from Trump’s first term. In order to stay compliant with federal law, LC is also in the process of rewriting its policy.
“There are going to be some changes in terms of policy languages and details, but I don’t anticipate that most people will see it as a major change, but it does require us to do some rewrites and revisions,” Makin-Byrd said.
Outlined in multiple executive orders are Trump’s denouncements of “gender ideology,” which he defines as “the idea that there is a vast spectrum of genders that are disconnected from one’s sex.”
“Defending women from gender ideology extremism and restoring biological truth to the Federal Government” is one such order that aims to eliminate gender-neutral language and to only officially recognize two sexes, thus effectively denying the existence of transgender Americans.
In response to this, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) updated their student athlete participation policy on Feb. 6 to specifically ban individuals assigned male-at-birth from competing in women’s sports, though they can still participate in team practices. For men’s teams, the participation policy says “regardless of sex assigned at birth or gender identity, a student-athlete may participate (practice and compete) with a men’s team, assuming they meet all other NCAA eligibility requirements.”
Lois Leveen, LC’s director of public relations, commented on how the college will deal with the national policy requirements in an interview with The Mossy Log on Feb. 12.
“There are certain protections that Title IX guarantees, but also Lewis & Clark may want to extend further protections because what we care about is the well-being of our students and we have a deeper understanding of what protecting that wellbeing is. So we don’t need the government to force us to protect certain things. We will choose to protect them anyway and that is not changing,” Leveen said.
However, Leveen acknowledged that there are some policies to which the college must adhere. Because the NCAA exists as a separate, nonprofit entity, universities in association must adhere to their guidelines, no matter their institutional philosophies.
“The NCAA is a different thing, because the NCAA gets to put out rules and regulations that if you are participating in NCAA sports, you have to follow,” Leveen said.
Mark Pietrok and Sharon Sexton, LC’s director and associate director of physical education and athletics, sent out an email Thursday Feb 6. to LC athletes, acknowledging that the changes to NCAA policy will be complied with.
“The new policy limits competition in women’s sports to student-athletes assigned female at birth only. The policy permits student-athletes assigned male at birth to practice with women’s teams and receive benefits such as medical care while practicing,” the announcement read.
LC athletics must follow the NCAA rules to maintain its status as competitors.
“While we are required to comply with both applicable local, state and federal laws, as well as the participation rules set forth by the NCAA, we are committed to supporting our student athletes, including trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming athletes. Our commitment to fostering a safe and supportive community that affirms each person’s individual identity and experiences has not changed,” the email read.
While this rhetoric can be frightening, both Leveen and Makin-Byrd encourage students to remember that many of these executive orders are currently being challenged in courts and that LC is committed to protecting LGBTQ+ students in ways that will not change.
“I find that a lot of popular press coverage of some of these issues tends to be a little more incendiary than it needs to be; they are motivated to get clicks,” Makin-Byrd said. “I think there are fewer changes at this point than it feels like there are.”
Leveen echoed Makin-Byrd’s idea.
“We’ve already seen challenges in the courts that have stopped some things, not necessarily related to Title IX, but more broadly that would have had huge impacts for Lewis & Clark and for post-secondary education in general. Oregon has better protections than other states. My friends who work at public universities, particularly in other states, are in a very different position for students, staff and faculty,” Leveen said. “The highest priority for Lewis & Clark is to be a welcoming and inclusive community for everyone. There are things we cannot change, but there is so much we can do, and again, just remember that this community is not abandoning anybody.”
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