Speak About Title IX

Talia Cutler ’27

Managing Editor

Orientation week is known for a myriad of formative moments. Some recollect their first week on campus fondly with blurry visions of B-lax, their first encounters with Tony and attempting to navigate Mather without spilling coffee or taking Ex-lax. 

I, as a member of the class of 2027, am an unfortunate casualty of the infamous 11-day-long orientation conducted almost entirely in a single outdoor tent during a heat wave. Yet, perhaps the most concerning and potentially hazardous portion of my freshman orientation was the “Speak About It” performance conducted as Title IX education. “Speak About It” is a theatre group whose website describes themselves as “[c]onsent, boundaries, and healthy relationships taught with humor and humanity.”

In essence, they playact different scenarios one might find themselves in during the noctambulous activities of their college career on Vernon street. They stumble “drunkenly” and deliver cringeworthy one liners in which they punchingly emphasize any mention of sex or drugs—not unlike an elementary schooler saying a swear word for the first time. 

I remember leaving the BO-tainted tent thinking “thank God that’s over.” This discomfort stemmed not from the content of the Title IX education, but the handling of such content in a stupid and blasé manner in which it was presented to the student body. The sentiment was a shared one. The skits were awkward, forcefully funny, and the student discourse that followed often revolved solely around the aforementioned awkwardness.

As an orientation leader my sophomore year, I had the opportunity to see the group perform once more (sans heat wave). Again, they were met with laughter and dismissive chatter as the Title IX office handed out T-shirts and prizes to facetious students. I have to wonder: what is the plan here? Skits and laughter may lighten the mood from a heavy topic, but is that what Trinity wants? Treating Title IX like a joke, or even trying to make the heavy topic of campus rape culture lighthearted and fun, is self defeating and ethically gross. It essentially sacrifices the integrity of student engagement for a few laughs. Administrators owe students decency, humility and respect when talking about sensitive topics. 

“Speak About It” did not return to campus for this year’s first-year orientation, but rather was replaced by “Party Safer.” To be clear, this was not a recognition of “Speak About It” missing the mark, but a substitute for a last minute cancellation. “Party Safer” was not much better, and almost arguably worse. The two-hour long session was via Zoom. An open chat allowed for a slew of fake questions about porn and gooning. The speaker went on an unrestrained rant on what counts as “scoring” as well as recounting playing a lawn game of vaginal cornhole in college. For some incomprehensible reason, organizers are under the impression that laughs equal engagement, but the opposite is actually taking place. They are not laughing with, but at the presentation. 

Overall, the way that I have seen orientation programming handle Title IX in the past few years (and I can assume years before that) has been irresponsible, embarrassing, and incredibly destructive to a safe campus environment. In an instant, an important (perhaps the MOST important) topic for freshmen during orientation turns into a joke, a forum for humor. This is especially dangerous as orientation marks the opening of the “Red Zone” on college campuses — a time from orientation to Thanksgiving break where statistically the most amounts of sexual assaults take place. The placement of Title IX training on the final day of orientation is concerning given that days of parties have already taken place. 

To be perfectly clear, this is not a new issue or one that is caused in any way by new leadership. Instead, I see this particular issue as a failure of oversight and repeated missteps—a chronic inability from Trinity to exercise pattern recognition and (more unceremoniously) read the room. 

When it comes to sexual assault on college campuses, it should be a serious conversation. If student engagement with the material is the goal of these sessions, this can be achieved through discourse, small groups and mental health professionals being present. It should engage in dialogue rather than spectatorship to encourage active understanding of these uncomfortable albeit necessary topics. 

These same first-years that laugh (justifiably) at a frankly ridiculous Title IX training during orientation will become upperclassmen that are now predisposed to engaging in dangerous and aggressive behavior. Title IX has been presented these students from their very first days of college as unserious, the subject of ridicule. The purpose of orientation is to soak in valuable information that sets the tone for the rest of their four years at Trinity. Why are the presentations on less crucial topics treated with more dignity than sexual discrimination during freshman orientation? The answer is simple, but apparently ever–elusive: when the school treats sexual assault education like a joke, they cannot be surprised when Trinity students are ill-adjusted to the topic. Perhaps there is a reason that Trinity has employed at least 7 Title IX coordinators in the last 8 years. Is it the overwhelming amount of reports that keeps the position vacant? I could conjecture, but I am not sure it’s necessary. 

Big changes in campus rape culture start with taking sexual assault eduaction seriously. Some serious reflection is required from those organizing orientation programming — there is a place for humour and that place has never been and never will be the Title IX sessions.