Faculty Executive committee received an update from David Cordle, provost, about the progress on the new Title IX coordinator position during their meeting last Thursday.

The new position will report to Kevin Johnson, general counsel, rather than to Ray Lauber, the director of human resources, according to Cordle. 

Using the vacant Title IX investigator position to hire a full-time coordinator presents a power problem, Cordle said. 

“That will be handled in one of two ways, I don’t think a decision has been made yet,” Cordle said. “One way is potentially just to farm out the investigation. Just not even do it internally.”

If that is the route taken, then the university will have to pay for the investigations, according to Cordle.

The other way to handle it is to create another position and hire an investigator that will work with the coordinator, Cordle said. 

“One or the other will end up happening,” Cordle said. 

Previously, Lisa Moritz, filled the investigator role of Title IX, as the Deputy Title IX Coordinator, and Lauber served as the director of Title IX, according to Cordle.

Moritz held other positions at the same time, including Associative Affirmative Action Officer, according to the faculty staff directory listing. 

“The workload pretty much became unmanageable,” Cordle said. “Lisa (Moritz) was spending, for the last two years, most of her time supporting the Title IX effort.”

The amount of time it involved, and Moritz stepping down from the Title IX role, led to the creation of the new position, Cordle said. 

“If we just hire another Lisa, that person’s going to get burnt out too and then we’re right back to where we started,” Cordle said. 

The coordinator role is a full-time, salaried administrative position, according to the Chronicle Vitae listing.

“This new position serves a key leadership role for the university by ensuring compliance with Title IX; overseeing the implementation of Title IX policies, processes, programs, training; and having no other duties that create a conflict of interest,” according to the Chronicle Vitae application.

Currently, three applicants have been interviewed for the position. No further progress selecting a person to fill the position has been made.