The Women’s Center, founded by a coalition of student, staff, and faculty activists, opened in 1989 in response to a demand for women’s equal educational opportunities, greater safety, and gender-related resources at St. Cloud State University. Throughout its rich, 32-year history, the Women’s Center has provided educational programming; a comprehensive array of services to students experiencing gender violence, harassment, and discrimination; scholarships for nontraditional women students; institutional advocacy for policies and procedures supporting gender equity; leadership and professional development opportunities; and more. We create solutions and collaborate with other members of the campus community to address inequity, oppression, and opportunity related to gender and its intersections.

https://www.stcloudstate.edu/womenscenter/

TITLE IX 1972

No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.

Essentially, Title IX prohibits sex discrimination in educational institutions that receive federal funding (the vast majority of schools). While Title IX is a very short statute, Supreme Court decisions and guidance from the U.S. Department of Education have given it a broad scope covering sexual harassment and sexual violence. Under Title IX, schools are legally required to respond and remedy hostile educational environments and failure to do so is a violation that means a school could risk losing its federal funding.

Title IX

Clery Act

The Clery Act was named after Jeanne Clery, who was raped and murdered in her dorm room by a fellow student on April 5, 1986. Her parents championed the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act) in her memory. This Act is a federal law that requires colleges to report crimes that occur “on campus” and school safety policies. This information is available each year in an Annual Security Report (ASR), which can be found on your school’s website. The Clery Act also requires schools to send timely warnings to the school community when there are known risks to public safety on campus.

Clery Act