The GW
HATCHET
December 9, 2024 Vol. 121 Iss. 15
AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER • SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904 • ONLINE AT GWHATCHET.COM
Title IX Office, SGA to launch peer adviser program next fall ANNALIESE PERSAUD REPORTER
MOLLY ST. CLAIR
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
The Title IX Office and Student Government Association late last month opened applications for a peer adviser program set to launch next fall to support students involved in Title IX cases. The program will grant students undergoing Title IX processes the option to select a peer adviser from a pool of trained students and alumni who can attend hearings with the student, provide emotional support and discuss Title IX Office resources. The application for students to apply to become an adviser opened in late November and will remain open until Dec. 17, when officials will begin the selection and interview process for the program. Assistant Provost and University Title IX Coordinator Asha Reynolds said the program will supplement the current Title IX policy that allows students to select their own adviser or receive a GW-appointed adviser to provide more peer-topeer support throughout the Title IX process. If a student can’t find an adviser or doesn’t want to select their own, the University can provide an adviser free of charge, according to the Title IX website. Reynolds said the advisers the University appoints to students are typically attorneys with “substantial” Title IX knowledge who provide students free information on Title IX processes and investigate cases for students. “Volunteer advisers will offer an added layer of support to members of the GW community who are impacted by sexual harassment,” Reynolds said in an email. Reynolds said pro-
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Holiday Guide
51 percent hike in reopened Title IX complaints in 2023-24: report JENNA LEE
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
COOPER TYKSINSKI | PHOTOGRAPHER
The entrance to the Title IX office located on 20th Street
spective candidates are required to submit a resume and letter of interest, and if selected, will undergo an interview process with Title IX officials. She said officials will hold training sessions for the selected volunteer advisers on GW’s Title IX policy, offer onand-off-campus support resources and traumainformed care so they can accurately assist students undergoing Title IX processes. Reynolds said the Title IX Office will continuously request feedback from students who receive a volunteer adviser to actively assess whether they are providing sufficient support to parties. Reynolds said the selected advisers will sign a “privacy agreement” with the University and with the student who selects them to act as their adviser to ensure information about the Title IX case remains confidential. She said people accepted into the program
must commit to serving in the role for a minimum of one year to ensure students can work with the same adviser for the duration of their case. Current Title IX privacy policy states that filing a report with the Title IX Office is not entirely confidential, as case details are shared with a “limited circle” of University employees and Title IX Office staff members who discuss how best to move forward. SGA President Ethan Fitzgerald said the Title IX Office permits students to bring an adviser of their choosing to hearings under current Title IX procedure, but the program will give students who don’t have someone they feel comfortable confiding in another option for support. He said the adviser program can also provide a third-party student adviser to students who don’t feel comfortable sharing details of their case with their friends.
“This is really to help students who maybe don’t have someone they can turn to, or maybe even if they do, don’t feel comfortable bringing someone who’s so close to their life or who might know the other person that’s related to the case,” Fitzgerald said. Fitzgerald said the SGA’s idea for the program stemmed from conversations between the SGA’s executive branch and Title IX officials, like Reynolds and Assistant Director of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Beth Riley about expanding peer-to-peer support for students involved in the Title IX process. He said Title IX respondents and complainants may feel more comfortable sharing their experiences with a peer than an adult who may not understand their perspective as well. Fitzgerald said the University “finalized” the questions for the application and will conduct an internal selection and in-
terview process next semester to select the pool of advisers. He said the SGA helped craft questions for the application. The University will hold a series of training sessions where selected advisers will sign confidentiality agreements, learn about GW’s Title IX proceedings and review a handbook the Title IX Office created for the program to train advisers on GW-specific policies, Fitzgerald said. Jennifer Locane, the SGA executive secretary for graduate affairs and a second-year graduate student, said she met with Fitzgerald and SGA Vice President Ethan Lynne in July to discuss her ideas to include students and alumni advocates. She said she had learned in her studies in the Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling program at GW about how peer-to-peer support can benefit the individual seeking support and the advocate by fostering a meaningful relationship.
The Title IX Office reported a 51 percent increase in reopened complaints in the 2023-24 academic year as new complaints of sexual harassment, sexual assault, domestic and dating violence and stalking plateaued, according to the office’s third annual report released last month. The data shows that there were 408 new reports of sexual harassment, sexual assault, stalking, dating violence, domestic violence, pregnancy and related conditions and retaliation in the 2023-24 reporting period, compared to 405 reports received the year before. The report also stated that there was a 51 percent increase from the 2022-23 reporting period in complaints that were reopened after a complainant asked for additional support — which Asha Reynolds, the Title IX Office’s director and coordinator, said shows students are willing to continuously reach out to the office for support. Of the 408 reports filed in the 2023-24 period, 272 were for sexual harassment, 95 were for sexual assault, 91 were for stalking, 31 were for dating violence and 20 were for domestic violence. Nineteen complaints were requesting support for pregnancy or related conditions and three were for retaliation. Complaints of stalking and domestic violence in 2023-24 rose the most out of all categories compared to the previous reporting period, with the 2022-23 report recording 68 complaints of stalking and 11 complaints of domestic violence. Of the 408 complaints, 89 of the incidents happened in residence halls, 110 took place in nonresidential parts of campus — a rise from last period’s 76 — 44 occurred online, 83 were off campus and 82 had unknown locations, a drop from last period’s 108. The report also states that 276 complainants were undergraduate students, 78 were graduate students, 26 were staff, three were faculty, 22 were non-GW affiliated and 26 were unknown.
International students brace for visa uncertainty as Trump’s second term nears ARJUN SRINIVAS REPORTER
JENNIFER IGBONOBA NEWS EDITOR
Officials urged international students late last month to return to the United States before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, a message that students said served as a reminder of the uncertainty that clouds international travel and the availability of visas in the near future. The email, sent from the International Services Office on Nov. 26, encouraged students to return to the United States before Trump can execute potential executive orders when he enters office on Jan. 20 that restrict travel. Some international students with F-1 visas — which allow students to travel to the United States to attend an accredited school or college — said they are worried about potential travel bans hindering their student status, and many fear that Trump’s policies could hinder their ability to find employment post graduation and remain in the United States. Officials are not mandating the recommendation, the email states. But officials said the announcement was made out of an “abundance of caution” to prevent future student travel disruptions since the new administration can enact policies within days of taking office. Trump issued an executive order one week into his first term that banned Syrian refugees indefinitely and people from Sudan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Iran and Iraq, including those with a valid U.S. visa, from entering the country for 90 days. In September, Trump said he would ban refugees from the Gaza Strip and reinstate his previous travel ban. “When I got the email, I was like, ‘Whoa this could be a lot more serious than I thought,’” said sophomore Bulgan Enkhjargal, who is from Mongolia. “But I did my best not to scare myself or anything because I knew that
we’re gonna be fine, but the fact that we still got the email from ISO, from the school, was just kind of unsettling.” Enkhjargal, who serves as the assistant publicity director for the International Students Association, said she was initially confused why the email specified that students should return before Inauguration Day on Jan. 20 because classes for most degree programs begin on or before Jan. 13. She was originally “caught off guard” because she didn’t completely understand the potential complications a Trump presidency could have on international students, like limiting visas to people from certain countries, she said. Trump’s 2017 travel ban was contested in the judicial system and in protests that erupted in airports and college campuses across the country, with some GW students arguing bans would limit campus diversity. In January 2017, an Iranian student, set to obtain his master’s degree from the University in applied economics, was refused a visa by the government following the travel ban. University officials vocalized their support for international students immediately after Trump’s travel ban efforts and challenged the executive order’s initial version along with 30 other colleges and universities. In 2018, international student enrollment at GW dropped for the first time in nearly a decade from 15.1 to 14.2 percent. There are 3,044 international students currently enrolled at the University, according to a released report scheduled to be presented at a Faculty Senate meeting on Friday. University spokesperson Shannon McClendon said the email intended to raise awareness about possible changes that could occur when the new administration starts in January. She said the guidance, which other universities, like Cornell and Brown have similarly issued following
Sophomore Paola Sigüenza poses for a portrait in front of the International Students Office.
the election, is “rooted” in keeping the campus community safe. “As ISO monitors potential policy changes with the new administration, the office will continue to provide resources and guidance to ensure the entire community feels welcomed, valued, and supported in pursuing their academic and professional goals,” McClendon said in an email. Most international students hold either an F-1 or J-1 visa, which allows people to participate in specific education programs. Both visas typically end after a recipient graduates or completes an educational program with a one to two month grace period, depending on their permits. Junior Carlos Herrera, an international affairs student from Mexico, said he was “worried” that officials felt it was necessary to send the email because
it shows the severity of the possibility of travel bans. Herrera said he is concerned about the availability of H-1B visas, which allow employers to sponsor foreign workers in certain occupations because he hopes to remain in the country due to the better job prospects for his field in the United States compared to Mexico as he prepares to graduate spring 2026. Trump heightened requirements for obtaining the H-1B visa in his first term, with denial rates for the program increasing amid his crackdown and a rise in the required minimum salary that employers must pay visa holders, until federal courts blocked the new regulations in 2020. “For a lot of international students the end goal is to stay here and work, obtain a visa and then a green card, et cetera,” Herrera said. “And during his original presidency, the lottery system for
AMAAN NABEEL | PHOTOGRAPHER
work visa changed and things are very uncertain, especially because I’m going to be graduating during his presidency.” First-year Amen Tamirat Mulu, an economics and political science student from Ethiopia, said that throughout his college application process, he believed a second Trump term would not happen, but he is now worried about returning to the United States next year because he has to annually renew his visa. F-1 visas are usually valid for up to five years but depending on someone’s nationality can be shorter. The period for F-1 visas from Ethiopian nationals is one year. Mulu said his visa expires next August and he still plans to return to Ethiopia to renew it, despite some of his peers’ reluctance to leave the United States due to fears of potential travel disruptions.