The Gold Standard | Avoiding Title IX trouble

As your eyes take in these words, with the memories of Spring Fling replaying in your head, it’s hard not to feel a sense of pride in being a Penn student. For whatever gripes one holds against Penn, 48 hours of Fling helps to dilute these concerns, even if just temporarily.

But there’s one more thing we can be proud of at Penn both pre- and post-Fling — how we treat women here.

That seems like somewhat of an easy thing to say, but lately at peer institutions this quality is fleeting and in high-demand — which makes its ubiquity at Penn all the more impressive.

Yale University has recently become a lightning rod for equal treatment criticisms, with some scary accusations being tossed its way. Last month, the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights launched an investigation into Yale, after allegations of Title IX violations began to surface.

Specifically, the school is accused of providing an ineffective grievance process for addressing violations of Title IX, a federal gender-equity law. Allegedly, this resulted in “the denial of equal opportunity to education for numerous university students,” said DOE spokesman Jim Bradshaw, quoting the complaint being investigated.

This is no small potatoes. Anytime the Feds are involved, the issue becomes magnified. But there’s more — if the results from the investigation are in accord with the allegations, Yale could find itself cut out of half a billion dollars in federal funding.

What makes Penn appear clean amidst this pile of mud is the fact that Yale is not alone in these alleged Title IX violations. Peer schools — including Harvard, Princeton and Duke universities and the University of Virginia — are all being investigated by the same Office of Civil Rights for similar violations. These accusations relate to the Title IX mandate that all universities receiving federal funding prohibit gender discrimination.

Penn’s ability to emerge scot-free while nearly half of the Ivy League remains mired in gender controversies has much to do with the social awareness prevalent on campus.

Anyone here can tell you how many women are targets of attempted rape on college campuses — one in four. Why? For three years, I’ve walked Locust and seen these “1 in 4” signs nearly everywhere I turn. It’s this kind of implicit, underlying awareness that fosters greater equality.

How about the “Wharton Women” promotions? I’m not a Wharton student, and I don’t frequent Huntsman Hall all that much. But I know about Wharton Women because of its widespread displays across campus. Again, its awareness and the understanding that women and men here are on equal footing that nips sexual harassment before it rears its ugly head.

Signs shouldn’t be viewed as the only means to combating sexual harassment. But the awareness that such displays promote on campus, to students of all stripes, is an undeniable asset in cultivating an atmosphere relatively devoid of gender tensions.

Of course, Penn isn’t perfect. Only a few years ago, a Neurosurgery professor was locked up for sexually assaulting an incoming School of Veterinary Medicine student.

In any environment with thousands of young adults interacting daily, there are bound to be occurrences that make you cringe. As College junior Meg Hlousek, vice chairwoman of University Relations for the Penn Consortium of Undergraduate Women said in an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian, “Women at Penn have many great accomplishments, hold many leadership positions and do well, but at the same time are still confronted with sexist behavior and language.”

That being said, let’s take a moment to applaud the efforts of students throughout campus that work to foster an awareness that leaves us, at least in the present moment, standing tall over Yale and other peer schools when it comes to gender equality and treatment of women.

Brian Goldman is a College junior from Queens, N.Y. His email address is goldman@theDP.com. The Gold Standard appears every Monday.

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