What’s in a name? The Office of Equity and Title IX has a new title
No changes are expected for role of office on campus
By Victoria Hansen 
On July 8, Associate Vice President for Safety & Wellness Skylar Tiell announced that the University of Findlay’s Office of Title IX and Equity would be renamed to the Office of Civil Rights.
“Over the summer, we made the transition from the Office of Title IX to Civil Rights largely because it’s more reflective of the office’s purview,” Tiell said. “In addition to that [Title IX] we’re in charge of administering the non-discrimination policy, the minors on campus policy, the religious accommodation policy, and the serious misconduct disclosure policy.”
Despite the removal of the word “equity” the name change was fueled by a desire for accuracy, and not outside political pressure, according to Abby Blinka, Deputy Civil Rights/Title IX Coordinator.
“Every year, the office does a review of content, marketing, all the fliers of campus, all the policies themselves to make sure that they’re accurate and the best way to support the campus community,” Blinka said. “In that review was a conversation that where we decided internally that this was going to be the best way to communicate what the office does.”
Tiell has been in various roles surrounding Title IX and campus safety for nine years. A holistic focus on civil rights beyond solely Title IX has been a dream of his.
“It’s been kind of an evolution, right?” Tiell said. “We took over the responsibility and administration of the non-disclosure policy and at that point, we changed the name to the Office for Equity and Title IX…Even with all that’s going on, we felt that now would be the appropriate time to move forward to change the name.”
Despite the name change, there will be no changes to the duties of the Office of Civil Rights.
“What we really wanted to share with the campus community is to make sure that they knew everything that was going on, and all the different kinds of support that are available on campus through our office,” Blinka said.
Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 states that “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” Sex-based discrimination includes situations such as sexual harassment, sexual assault, unfair grading based on sex, not providing equal access to women’s sports, and discrimination against pregnant people.
If you or someone you know has been effected by sexual assault any form of discrimination, violations of Title IX and other discrimination policies can be reported to the Office of Civil Rights at https://findlay.guardianconduct.com/incident-reporting.
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