Charge and Membership

The September 4, 2018 University report entitled “Improving Washington University’s Response to Sexual Assault and Misconduct: A Call to Action” included the following recommendation:

The university will create a Title IX advisory committee, to include students, faculty and staff, which will provide regular feedback to the Provost and to the Director of the Title IX Office about the Title IX process, policies and practices, and the university’s efforts in implementing this action plan.

Toward this end, the Title IX Advisory Committee was launched in February of 2019. The Advisory Committee – made up of faculty, students, and staff – exists to provide regular feedback to the Provost and Gender Equity and Title IX Compliance Office about the Title IX process, policies and practices, and the university’s efforts in implementing this action plan.

The Committee is not procedurally involved in the Title IX process.

In February 2023, following four years of Advisory Committee work, the Charge of the Committee was revised to clarify the scope of and accurately reflect the Committee’s important work.

Specifically, the Charge of the Advisory Committee is to:

  • Serve as a mechanism for members of the Washington University community to provide feedback about the Title IX and Gender Equity Grievance Processes. The Committee will develop a system to elicit such feedback and to transparently and publicly share the feedback received, in a way that preserves the overall confidentiality and anonymity of complainants, respondents, and witnesses.
  • Provide feedback to the Provost and the Gender Equity and Title IX Compliance Office (GETIXCO) on overall processes and offer recommendations for improvement. In advising GETIXCO, gather feedback from the community and from complainants and respondents as appropriate and in a way that is demonstrably safe and anonymous. 
  • Serve as a sounding board for GETIXCO related to proposed policy and procedural changes.

Time Commitment

The Advisory Committee will hold between two and four, 90-minute meetings per year – one to two in the fall semester and one to two in the spring semester. There will be some additional time commitments outside the meetings, including time for required training, as well as time required if the Committee forms working groups to review and make recommendations on Title IX-related issues to the Director of GETIXCO.    

Membership

There will be a committee chair and 16 standing members of the committee, to include students and trainees, faculty, and staff from both the Danforth and Medical School campuses. Additionally, one person will be assigned to staff the committee whose role will be to coordinate meeting logistics and take notes during the meetings.

The appointments will be handled as follows:

  • The Provost will appoint a senior member of the faculty or university administration to serve as the committee’s chair
  • The Provost will appoint 4 staff members. At least one of these staff appointments will be from the Medical School and one will be a post-doctoral representative from the Danforth Campus.
  • The Provost will appoint 4 faculty representatives, including at least one faculty representative from WUSM, from a list of nominees shared by the Faculty Senate Council.
  • The 8 students and trainees will be selected through an application process and an in-person interview, and they will include at least 2 student or trainee representatives from the Medical School.

The University will strive to ensure that the committee members represent the diverse identities and backgrounds of our community. The members will be expected to have some knowledge of the issues surrounding sexual and relationship violence and the Title IX process.  Additional training will be provided as needed.  Committee members will serve two year, staggered terms to ensure that there is both continuity and new perspectives as a part of the committee.  While it is not expected that the Advisory Committee will hear specific and detailed information about individual Title IX cases from GETIXCO, all members will be expected to sign a confidentiality agreement to ensure privacy of those individuals who have previously gone through or are currently involved in an ongoing process and who choose to provide feedback to the Committee.  Failure to keep matters related to Title IX cases confidential will constitute grounds for removal from the Advisory Committee and may be referred for disciplinary action.


Title IX Advisory Committee

Committee Chair: Tonya Edmond, professor, Brown School

Administrative Staff: Jennifer Gibbs, senior project manager, special projects, Office of the Provost

Administrative Staff: Deborah Jaegers, program coordinator, Office of the Provost

Committee Members (as of April 1, 2023)

Jennifer Alexander-Brett, assistant professor, Division of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine, School of Medicine

Elizabeth Carlen, biodiversity postdoctoral fellow, Living Earth Collaborative 

Disha Chatterjee, student Arts & Sciences

Sonal Churiwal, student, Arts & Sciences

Slavica Djuranovic, assistant professor, Cell Biology and Physiology, School of Medicine

Caroline Fecher, postdoctoral research associate, Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, School of Medicine

Brady Griffith, senior manager, student life, Office of Medical Student Affairs, School of Medicine

Frannie Katz, student, McKelvey School of Engineering

Tessa Lochetto, student, School of Medicine

Dominic Moog, student, School of Medicine

Jadahlee Peralta, student, Arts & Sciences

Ash Rajesh, postdoctoral research associate, Precision Neuroimaging, School of Medicine

Molly Schneider, student, Arts & Sciences

Isaac Seller, student, Arts & Sciences

Morgan Shields, assistant professor, Brown School

Carynn Smith, associate director Campus Life, Danforth

Rebecca Wanzo, chair and professor, Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies

Jessica Kennedy, Ex Officio

Kim Webb, Ex Officio

All members of the Title IX Advisory Committee can be found in the WashU Directory. To submit confidential comments to the committee at large, please use the Feedback Form below.


Feedback Form

This form is intended to be used as a way for students, faculty, staff and community members to leave feedback for the Title IX Advisory Committee.

The university will strive to protect, to the greatest extent possible, the confidentiality of persons leaving feedback on this form. Because the university may have an obligation to address certain reported incidents, however, the university cannot guarantee complete confidentiality where it would conflict with the university’s obligation to investigate meaningfully or, where warranted, take corrective action. Even when some disclosure of the university’s information or sources is necessary, it will be limited to the extent possible.

Regardless of the situation, personal information will only be shared with individuals with a legitimate need to know, in compliance with university policy.

Title IX Advisory Committee – Feedback Form

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