BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD)– LSU’s Board of Supervisors met to discuss some of the changes they intended to make regarding Title IX cases.
LSU Office of Civil Rights & Title IX Interim VP, Jane Cassidy says, “I am truly sorry that we were unable to prevent the incidents or at least provide appropriate care and support after the fact.”
LSU’S BOS came with several recommendations to help improve the their administartion.
BOS Chairwoman Mary Werner says, “Let’s put that technology and that access for services and communication and process at our students’ fingertips.”
“There was a Title IX office that was housed in the university administration building which was down by the fraternities and sororities, it’s kind of off-campus. There were 2 people there. Now that we are building out the office. We are moving it onto campus,” says Cassidy.
They plan to invest in external assistance.
Cassidy says, “It also brings knowledge of policies. he knows what all the good people are doing as well. He knows what they do on their campuses. He hasn’t ever been to Louisiana in his life and doesn’t know anyone here, but he knows the field. So having him on our campus for 3 months is incredibly beneficial.”
They also hope to cultivate a better campus atmosphere.
She says, “It’s all going to be about respect, we are going to get people to start having conversations because what we want is, we want to prevent these things happening in the first place, right. When people are sexually assaulting others or when there are other types of discriminatory behavior, it’s a lack of respect for the other person.”
Teaching valuable skills was also a priority.
“We need to know how to intervene in that. a lot of people will walk by, and see it going on, but are afraid to get involved,” said Cassidy.
This all would, in turn, benefit the community.
Cassidy says, ”We’ll, our students are a part of the community. So, the healthier the students, and faculty, and staff on our campus is, the healthier the rest of the community is.”
This is all in an effort to improve LSU’s culture moving forward it’s of course an ongoing process.
They also expanded their office to not just Title IX but also civil rights which covers other types of discrimination they may encounter.