"Misgendering" is now a federal offense

[jt512]

"Misgendering" and "mispronouning" are, as of August 1, federal offenses under Title IX, as explained in the memo, below, to the faculty of Mount Holyoke College signed by the Provost and Sharon Lynch, the Assistant Vice Provost for Compliance. Moreover, if a student complains that they have been "subject to incorrect use of their pronouns," faculty are required to report the incident to the college's compliance office. Faculty are also required to report incidents of "open mocking of [the college's] Pronoun Policy."

To: Mount Holyoke Faculty
Cc: Shannon Lynch
Subject: [faculty-a] Title IX clarification

Dear Faculty Community,

Welcome to the start of another academic year at Mount Holyoke College! As you may have learned in President Danielle R. Holley’s email communication on August 20th, the College has created a new compliance department as of this past summer. To ensure that Mount Holyoke is a safe and inclusive campus for our community as well as compliant with ever-changing regulations, two new positions were created: Assistant Vice President for Compliance and Director of Civil Rights and Community Standards.

Some of you recently heard from the Assistant Vice President for Compliance, Shannon Lynch, regarding your responsibilities as Mandated Reporters at the College. Per our Sex Discrimination and Sex-Based Harassment Policy, all College employees who are not designated as Confidential must disclose to the Title IX Coordinator when they have information that may reasonably constitute a violation of the Policy.

On August 1, Title IX Regulations expanded to include misgendering, deadnaming, and mispronouning as prohibited acts and thus expanded the set of prohibited activities of concern to mandated reporters. Because faculty have a unique role in creating classrooms as spaces of mutual trust, respect, and concern—a role that lives alongside their responsibilities under Title IX—we would like to provide some guidance regarding faculty observations of misgendering in their classrooms. It is the expectation of the College that faculty report when misgendering occurs in the following ways: • when the misgendering has created a hostile environment;
• when there is open mocking of our Pronoun Policy or an individual's choice of pronouns; • or when a student reports being misgendered, deadnamed, or has been subject to incorrect use of their pronouns.
Shannon will follow up with all parties named in a report, offering resources and support, as well as procedural options if the policies’ definitions and standards have been met.

The scope of Title IX has shifted, but Mount Holyoke’s overarching commitment to education, care, and support of our gender diverse community of students, faculty and staff remains unchanged. Faculty can continue to look to the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, as well as the Teaching and Learning Initiative (TLI) for additional resources and support. We also want to highlight the upcoming TGNC10 programming, which will provide opportunities for education, discussion, and community related to our 10 years as a gender diverse campus.

Additional resources related to our Title IX policies can be found here. You may also visit the College Title IX webpage to learn more about our policies and procedures, as well as support and resources available to our campus community.

Should you have any questions or concerns regarding your responsibilities listed above, please contact Shannon Lynch at [email deleted] for more information.

Thank you and we wish you a successful semester ahead!


Shannon Lynch
AVP for Compliance

Lisa Sullivan
Provost and Dean of Faculty

Hard to think of a more appropriate name for the head of the Compliance Office than "Lynch."

 

[junkshop]

The AVP for Compliance reminding faculty members to comply with the law? The world is surely ending in a maelstrom of woke!

That, or they're doing their job.

 

[Ziggurat]

The AVP for Compliance reminding faculty members to comply with the law? The world is surely ending!

That, or their doing their job.

The law does not (and obviously cannot) prohibit mocking the university’s policy. So no, they aren’t simply reminding faculty to comply with the law. They are protecting their sinecures.

 

[arthwollipot]

A "Federal offence"?

That phrase clearly means something very different from what I think it means.

 

[Roger Ramjets]

Hard to think of a more appropriate name for the head of the Compliance Office than "Lynch."

Hard to think of a more inappropriate word to associate with laws against discrimination.

Lynching

Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people...

In the United States, where the word for "lynching" likely originated, lynchings of African Americans became frequent in the South during the period after the Reconstruction era, especially during the nadir of American race relations.

Still, anything that triggers bigots is good in my book. Poor little snowflakes love dishing out the hate, then act all hurt when told they have to stop it. That they would then imply their treatment is equivalent to being lynched would be highly ironical - if it wasn't so offensive. But hardly unexpected.

 

[jt512]

A "Federal offence"?

That phrase clearly means something very different from what I think it means.

Huh? If you know what something clearly means, how is it even logically possible to think it means anything else.

 

[arthwollipot]

Huh? If you know what something clearly means, how is it even logically possible to think in means anything else.

I'm seeing nothing in what you posted about federal law. I'm seeing a faculty policy.

"Federal offense" to me suggests that you can be arrested, tried before a federal judge and sent to federal prison for committing that offense. I guess I'm wrong about that and that isn't what "federal offense" means these days.

On the other hand, this could be deliberately using misleading terms in the service of antiwokist fearmongering and rabble rousing. I can't tell any more.

 

[jt512]

I'm seeing nothing in what you posted about federal law.

Title IX is federal law.

 

[Trausti]

I'm seeing nothing in what you posted about federal law. I'm seeing a faculty policy.

"Federal offense" to me suggests that you can be arrested, tried before a federal judge and sent to federal prison for committing that offense. I guess I'm wrong about that and that isn't what "federal offense" means these days.

On the other hand, this could be deliberately using misleading terms in the service of antiwokist fearmongering and rabble rousing. I can't tell any more.

Biden/Harris sent new Title IX regulations enforcing gender theology. That's what this is about. A number of states have already sued and this revised Title IX does not apply to their states.

 

[bruto]

I can understand the anger here. It is indeed a terrible and loathsome circumstance that there has to be a federal law to prevent us from doing the things that no decent person would ever think to do.

Imagine the hardship of having to circulate among people so hidebound and convinced of their righteousness that they cannot restrain themselves from ridiculing their fellow students, changing their names, and telling them out loud that they know them better than they know themselves. And imagine on top of that that the mere presence of laws to prevent it are not enough to constrain such arrant and arrogant busybodies, necessitating a college rule on top of that.

I too would find the whole prospect distasteful, and had I been aware of it, might have beaten JT512 to his worthy post calling attention to the odious circumstances that some feel require such a law.

Ha ha.

Anyway, Holyoke is a hell of a town and a sink of crime as well as iniquity, so I suggest that if JT512 has any college age kids, he should skip that, dig out their birth certificates, and consider Sweet Briar. They have a policy he is sure to like.

 

[Orphia Nay]

Bullying is an offence? Punishable by death, no doubt. *wrings hands*

 

[arthwollipot]

Title IX is federal law.

I see - thank you for that. Does Title IX mandate criminal prosecution for violations?

If so, this is ******* great! Let's see more of it. Let's see the transphobic and misogynistic ***** thrown right into prison where they can rot and be forgotten like the losers they are.

Alas, I've had a look at the US DOE's statment and it says nothing about misgendering being a federal crime. What it does say is:

OCR vigorously enforces Title IX to ensure that institutions that receive federal financial assistance from the Department comply with the law. OCR evaluates, investigates, and resolves complaints alleging sex discrimination. OCR also conducts proactive investigations, through directed investigations or compliance reviews, to examine potential systemic violations based on sources of information other than complaints.

Which, again, great! More of this please.

 

[Gulliver Foyle]

If true good. If not true, why am I not surprised about the haters lying?

 

[Mojo]

Still, anything that triggers bigots is good in my book. Poor little snowflakes love dishing out the hate, then act all hurt when told they have to stop it. That they would then imply their treatment is equivalent to being lynched would be highly ironical - if it wasn't so offensive.

If it's posted on the internet, where it can be seen by people in other states, it's federally offensive.

 

[Samson]

This thread went toxic at the speed of light in a vacuum.
It is the edge cases, for example where the autistic boy joins the female dorm and sits in a towel with the boner.
I did not make that up, the female students' expensive year is wrecked, if not their enjoyment of life generally. These laws are wreaking havoc, but nobody cares. Well, the girls care.

 

[Susheel]

Ooooh...lots of pearl-clutching from those who loved to fling the word "snowflake" around...

COPE guys...and whatever it is you are feeling? Well you are the only ones feeling it...

 

[Darat]

Should a faculty member be allowed to call all people they perceive to be black and male "boy" rather than the person's preferred name? After all boy is simply a word and it's only a preference of those people to be known by a name?

 

[Susheel]

This thread went toxic at the speed of light in a vacuum.
It is the edge cases, for example where the autistic boy joins the female dorm and sits in a towel with the boner.
I did not make that up, the female students' expensive year is wrecked, if not their enjoyment of life generally. These laws are wreaking havoc, but nobody cares. Well, the girls care.

i guess no point asking for evidence of this...

 

[sarge]

This thread went toxic at the speed of light in a vacuum.
It is the edge cases, for example where the autistic boy joins the female dorm and sits in a towel with the boner.
I did not make that up, the female students' expensive year is wrecked, if not their enjoyment of life generally. These laws are wreaking havoc, but nobody cares. Well, the girls care.

Yeah, girls seeing a clothed erection in college would never happen absent title IX!

I do not believe you made it up. I also saw Forest Gump and remember the scene well.

 

[Aber]

"Misgendering" and "mispronouning" are, as of August 1, federal offenses under Title IX, as explained in the memo, below, to the faculty of Mount Holyoke College

For completeness, MHC is a women's college.

And the correct film reference is to seducing the roommate of a victim of a pottery kiln accident.