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From: Office of Equal Opportunity and Access

Dear OSU Community Members,

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 creates access, fairness, and equity through the prohibition of discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs and activities. While we have prepared to implement an update to our policies and processes due to new Title IX regulations that were planned to go into effect for OSU and thousands of schools today, we are experiencing a delay due to a variety of injunctions playing out in courts across the country. In the meantime, we continue to follow current Title IX regulations, and OSU policy continues to prohibit unlawful discrimination on the basis of actual or perceived sex, including sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, gender identity or expression, and sexual orientation.

In addition, the university has updated several of our policies and processes to further clarify definitions, employee responsibilities, and our investigation and resolution processes:

  • The Responsible Employee Policy has been updated to clarify that all employees (including student employees) must report all forms of sexual misconduct, discrimination, discriminatory harassment, and retaliation that may violate university policy to the Office of Equal Opportunity and Access (EOA).
    • Employees are also expected to provide students who are pregnant or experiencing pregnancy related conditions with EOA’s contact information and inform the student that EOA can provide them with support and modifications.
    • The offices and individuals exempt from Responsible Employee reporting were updated and clarified.
  • The Sexual Misconduct and Sex Discrimination Policy has been updated to clarify definitions, responsibilities, and procedures.
  • The Discrimination and Discriminatory Harassment Policy and Retaliation Policy have been updated to ensure clarity and consistency across policies.
  • The processes used to investigate and resolve incidents of sexual misconduct, discrimination, discriminatory harassment, and retaliation will be updated for clarity and consistency in the coming weeks.

Should you have any questions about any of these updates, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected].

Sincerely,
Becky Bangs, Executive Director for Equal Opportunity and Access, Title IX & ADA Coordinator, Office of Equal Opportunity and Access 

Send Date: 
Friday, August 2, 2024