On Thursday, Feb. 5, Swarthmore Student Government Organization (SGO) hosted a Title IX Town Hall in collaboration with the Gender & Sexuality Center (GSC), the Title IX Office, and the Student Health and Wellness Department. The event was planned to answer questions and connect students with campus resources; community members were invited to submit any questions related to Title IX ahead of time.
SGO President Abby Guise ’26 moderated the event, asking pre-submitted questions to a panel of three wellness staff members. The panel included Title IX Coordinator Matt Walsh, GSC Director Paige Jennings, and Associate Director of Health Promotion and Wellness Initiatives Ashley Netanel.
While the Town Hall came as part of a broader SGO initiative to better inform the student body about services and institutions around campus — previous sessions have centered on the endowment and the admissions process — Guise informed The Phoenix that Walsh had been the one to suggest this particular event. Walsh clarified later in the event that he had been hoping to foster student engagement with the Title IX office and establish himself as a more accessible resource.
Before answering questions, Walsh gave an overview of the work that the Title IX Office does and the way that it fits into the current cultural climate, both at Swarthmore and nationally.
Walsh began working at Swarthmore over the summer of 2025. As a new staff member, he recognized that his entrance came not long after the creation of the Title IX house in 2013 and Swarthmore’s disbanding of campus fraternities in 2019. Additionally, just months into his position, The Phoenix published an anonymous article that denounced a “culture of sexual violence” on campus.
Walsh clarified, “I don’t think that it’s appropriate for me to shirk any responsibility and say, ‘Well, that happened in the past. I’m here now.’ I recognize that I’m part of an institution that engaged with that and didn’t always address it in ways that felt the best for the campus.”
He also addressed a culture of “gender-based violence” on the national level before giving an in-depth explanation of the role of Title IX on campus. He emphasized that while the Title IX Office acts as “neutral fact finders” during an investigation, they ultimately do not determine the outcome or the sanctions of accused students.
In a follow-up email with The Phoenix, Walsh clarified, “If a formal investigation occurs, the office often utilizes a trained external party to manage the investigation in alignment with Swarthmore’s policy and procedures.” The outside investigator would then send their report to Walsh, who would review it and send it to the dean of students. It is the dean’s role to determine the adjudication process and, if substantiated, the sanctioning of the student.
In a Q&A period after the talk, a student questioned the use of an external party in investigations: “How can you shirk responsibility like that and still expect people to trust that it is a fair and transparent and open process?”
Walsh reiterated that the student conduct process itself happens in-house and that he was acting as a party of one. “If we have an external investigator whose sole priority is to be doing an investigation, [the investigative process is] going to move a lot quicker than if I’m running the investigation while also having additional job responsibilities outside of an investigation.” Additionally, he emphasized that he checks in with the investigator multiple times throughout the process and ultimately sees the external party as still falling under Title IX Office responsibility.
Once Walsh had established the role of the Title IX Office, Guise presented the pre-submitted questions to the panel of presenters. One recurring topic of discussion questioned how the college would protect the rights of transgender community members, specifically transgender student-athletes. Walsh clarified that despite federal action, Swarthmore has not changed the way it supports transgender students on campus — the college’s own sexual harassment and non-discrimination policies protect students regardless of national laws.
In reference to the Trump administration’s many executive orders placed at the beginning of his term, Jennings contributed that she anticipates to “see a drop of 100 executive orders [when Trump is out of office], putting things back in place. If you do identify as trans, know that we love you, and you are valid here, and should be everywhere, and hopefully will be by law again shortly.”
Additionally, the NCAA in January 2025 announced it was changing its policy for transgender athletes, only allowing transgender athletes assigned female at birth to compete. Swarthmore is currently charged in a lawsuit from former student Evelyn Parts ’25 alleging that the school violated Title IX provisions. In October, the college argued that it is “not on notice” to provide Title IX protection for gender identity in a development in the suit, given ambiguities in existing case law. These events prompted a discussion about how current transgender athletes are being supported at the college.
Walsh pointed out that transgender athletes can still participate with their teams on campus, but “[the college is] just beholden to those NCAA rules during competitions. And that doesn’t necessarily make anyone feel good.”
Jennings encouraged students to direct their frustrations to the NCAA rather than Swarthmore: “I just want to really shit on the NCAA here. As someone who was a college athlete, believe it or not, they are a monolith that needs to be destroyed.”
The GSC director went on to explain that the NCAA had a choice in making a decision to not include transgender athletes based on an executive order and was not bound by the law. “So if you have anger, and I hope you do, let’s take it to them, because they suck big time.”
However, she also acknowledged the hardships of the school pushing back against the NCAA and leaving the conference.
“One-third of the college campus [student-athletes] would lose their funding, would lose their sports system, and lose their friend group. I’m not saying that it’s not worth it to protect trans people … I’m just saying that these are all things to consider.”
Also discussed at length were the widespread student complaints of inefficiency on the part of the Title IX office. One pre-submitted question asked, “Why won’t Title IX remove someone they are aware caused harm?” Walsh responded that students may not know the full extent of the proceedings, as much of it is kept confidential. Further, he noted that, “95% of the time, our office is not moving forward with a complaint unless the person who experienced the harm wants a formal investigation to occur.”
He noted that the office might take disciplinary action against an offender if they received multiple complaints, even if individual victims have not requested that the school move forward.
Because of the confidential nature of the office’s work, Walsh asked the audience to “have a level of trust in us that any time a report is being made, we are having these full and comprehensive conversations around: how are we remedying this issue and how are we making sure that this behavior is stopped right at the source?”
A follow-up question cast doubt upon whether the Title IX office could “actually” help someone who has been assaulted. Walsh first acknowledged the skeptical nature of the question, but quickly moved on, noting that Title IX’s role is not supposed to be that of a therapist. Rather, he is “here to support one specific area regarding making sure that your educational experience is not negatively impacted, [which is] just one part of the puzzle.”
He hopes instead to provide a welcoming space where students can feel supported and gain access to the various resources available on campus. Additionally, he explained that, with some emergency exceptions, Title IX can’t remove someone from campus immediately.
Walsh reiterated these points when asked another follow-up question about why the Title IX process takes so long. As he works as a neutral party in each investigation, rather than solely supporting the students who report experiencing harm, he noted, “There’s a level of due process.” Review periods, interviews with multiple parties, and even the academic schedule of the affected students involved may slow down the process.
Jennings also contributed, emphasizing that even if the college does not move through with sanctions, “That does not mean that we don’t believe you.” However, she acknowledged the need for conclusive proof in order to move forward with consequences. Jennings also highlighted the office’s aim to move past a carceral model and recognize forms of discipline beyond removing someone from campus.
“Jumping to a system of expulsion often affects some people more than others. That’s why we don’t just jump to, ‘you said this happened, [so] we’re gonna expel this person.’” Comparing expulsion systems to carceral systems, Jennings encouraged students to “think about carceral systems in the larger structure of society and whether those are beneficial to everyone equally.”
Walsh continued this point in response to a question from Patricia Quimby-Moro ’28, who asked how the Title IX Office responded to situations that make it difficult for victims to report their circumstances. As Swarthmore is a small campus, Walsh noted that crossover between affected parties may be inevitable, but he is searching for creative ways to support students existing in the same spaces. He clarified, “We are focused on restorative justice. We are focused on transforming the campus into a safe space … And addressing this more holistically is really important.”
Other pre-submitted questions covered a variety of topics. Walsh discussed the fact that there is currently no way to contact Title IX anonymously. Reports can be made without attributions, but anonymity prevents the office from following up with support measures for the affected student. He also acknowledged the frequent turnover in the Title IX Office, though he did not name reasons for the departure of former Title IX director Bindu Jayne.
Both Jennings and Netanel covered questions about dealing with sexually active roommates and navigating healthy romantic relationships on campus.
One student asked, “How can staff and faculty cultivate supportive relationships with students without crossing boundaries”? All of the panelists recognized that Swarthmore staff and faculty want to engage with students in a meaningful way. However, Walsh reminded the audience that there will always exist a power dynamic between students and faculty. He encouraged students to reach out if they ever felt uncomfortable, noting, “You are very, very protected if you feel like a staff member or faculty is crossing the line.”
Another student brought up the “Timely Warning” notification students received last November regarding a sexual assault on campus. Jennings and Walsh explained that the Timely Warnings are part of the college’s need to follow the Clery Act, which requires schools to disclose crimes that occur on their campuses. Both panelists added that other schools send out many more notifications, and while the Timely Warning in the fall may feel like an anomaly, Walsh explained that it is actually the college “trying to align ourselves more concretely with the policies and procedures.”
However, Walsh noted the warning was only sent out after extensive consultation with the victim, and an email blast would never happen without multiple conversations involving the affected students.
The town hall ended with all of the panelists offering themselves as resources for any students with questions regarding Title IX or relationships on campus. In closing, Walsh invited students to provide any feedback that might help to improve his work: “I’m still very much figuring it out. And I’m asking you all to be figuring it out with me.”
