Swarthmore College students win reform of Title IX sex-based discrimination policies, Pennsylvania, USA, 2018

Swarthmore College, a small liberal arts institution located 30 minutes from Philadelphia, PA, is renowned for its academic rigor and commitment to cultural inclusivity. During the College’s 2013 "Spring of Discontent" (a term coined by the College’s President, Rebecca Chopp) , the college faced student protest against systemic administrative failures. Multiple student campaigns brought to light issues such as a lack of diversity among students and faculty, fossil fuel divestment, and, most notably, the need for Title IX reform. Title IX is a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs. In America, sexual misconduct remains a persistent community issue, and many institutions have established Title IX offices to prevent and address relevant concerns. However, no Swarthmore student had ever been expelled for violating the school's sexual assault policy. The "Spring of Discontent" continued to resonate within the student body through storytelling events organized by student activistsIn the Spring of 2017. A group of students created a website, "Swat Protects Rapists," that listed the college’s mishandling of sexual assault cases. On 19 March, 2018, another student group, Organizing for Survivors (O4S), conveyed these concerns and presented a series of  demands to Swarthmore College President Valarie Smith.

The demands mainly included: 1) protecting survivors, holding perpetrators accountable, and preventing sexual misconduct; 2) canceling the use of external adjudicators who handle investigations; 3) enhancing training for relevant investigators and restructuring the procedures; 4) openly revealing information about students who violated the Title IX policy; 5) cutting ties with alumni who were not in "good standing with the college"; 6) developing better management of housing for fraternities [mens’ social clubs]; and 7) demanding the resignation and an open apology from Dean of Students Liz Braun and Associate Dean of Students Nathan Miller and Associate Director for Investigations Beth Pitts for their irresponsibility in handling sexual assault cases and their failure to address survivors' perspectives.

On 21 March 2017, O4S organized a rally of more than one hundred students and faculty members to occupy the second floor of the school's Parish Hall, preventing foot traffic by other students, faculty, and administrators. However, President Valerie Smith, who had already agreed to schedule a meeting with O4S during the rally, did not attend the meeting. On 23 March, O4S wrote an open letter to Elizabeth Braun, Nate Miller, Beth Pitts, and Interim Title IX Coordinator Michelle Ray to further specify their administrative failures and to reiterate their demand for their resignations.

In the following days, numerous student groups wrote formal letters in support of O4S, including “The Daily Gazette, Student Government Organization, Sunrise, Women+ in Political Science, Student Philanthropy Council, Resident Assistants, SISA, Diversity Peer Advisors, W+IMS, Writing Associates, and Swarthmore Student Athletes.”

Three days after the rally, President Valerie Smith published a statement titled “Important Title IX Update” on Swarthmore College's website in response to O4S’s demands. In the statement, she promised to refine the Title IX investigation procedures, create more accessible methods for reporting sexual misconduct, implement comprehensive employee training, and enhance mental health care for survivors. However, citing legal and confidentiality concerns, she rejected O4S's demand that the school provide an attorney to complainants and she also rejected their demand that the College restrict alumni who “violated the policy” from returning to campus or contacting respondents during investigations. She did not mention any of the faculty members or administrators who O4S criticized for failing to fulfill their responsibilities to students

In April, O4S prepared more nonviolent actions. On 1 May, thirty students entered Dean Liz Braun’s office and live streamed their sit-in on Facebook. They repeated this strategy by hosting a sit-in in the office of Associate Dean of Students Nathan Miller, which lasted for nine days. Every night, 30 to 50 students slept in the offices and the adjacent hallway. Numerous faculty members, students, and alumni supported the action by bringing meals and snacks to the students involved in the sit-in and donating money to the group. Nearly 300 students participated in the sit-in.

2018 O4S began a sit-in inside the office of the Dean of Students, Liz Braun

(Photo source: Organizing for Survivors https://organizing4survivors.home.blog/our-narrative/)

On May 9th, the student activists delivered moving boxes to both Liz Braun’s and Nathan Miller’s offices and left numerous signs in the hallway, such as “Liz Braun Fails Students,” “When you avoid accountability, you teach perpetrators to do the same,” and “Trust survivors,” marking the end of the sit-in. President Valerie Smith held two meetings with core members of O4S to discuss the implementation of their initial demands. On 15 May  2018, President Valerie Smith published her second statement on the school website, promising to make the campus “safe, fair, and just” and continuing to discuss Title IX reform and other demands with O4S. Dean of Students Liz Braun announced her resignation on 16 May, a week after the sit-in.

Overall, Swarthmore College fulfilled O4S’s major demands for restructuring Title IX procedures and enhancing faculty and campus training on sexual misconduct. However, Nathan Miller and Beth Pitt remained in office, and students’ demands regarding the management of fraternities remained unmet. Since the establishment of the two fraternity chapters, Phi Psi and Delta Upsilon, in 1889 and 1894, respectively, incidents of sexual assault, homophobia, and racism have been associated with them, making them a major concern for Swarthmore College students advocating for sexual misconduct reform after winning the Title IX reform.