Brown and White Vol. 133 no. 12

              The Brown and White Vol. 133 No. 12
Friday, October 20, 2017 ‘All the Lehigh News First’
Lehigh discusses medical amnesty Racially-charged
incident occurs at
fraternity event
Title IX changes will not affect Lehigh
By KLAUDIA JAZWINSKA
Managing Editor
In a safety bulletin sent Oct. 12,
Lehigh University Police Chief
Edward Shupp alerted the com-munity
that a female student
had reported she was “indecent-ly
assaulted” at approximately
midnight Oct. 6 while attending
an on-campus fraternity event.
According to the email, the LUPD
was investigating the incident.
Lori Friedman, Lehigh’s director
of media relations, confirmed the
student reported that the incident
involved racially-charged language.
She said the university takes
such reports very seriously and the
incident is under investigation by
Karen Salvemini, Lehigh’s equal
opportunity compliance coordina-tor.
Salvemini told The Brown and
White she is unable to comment on
the incident as it is part of an open
and ongoing investigation.
As of Oct. 18, members of the
Interfraternity Council were also
unable to comment.
Student Senate condemned the
incident in an email to the campus
community Oct. 13.
“While the incident is still under
investigation, let us be clear: we
reject discrimination in all its
forms,” read the email. “As mem-bers
of the Lehigh community we
do not tolerate any form of preju-dice
based on someone’s race, sex,
religion, nationality, or any other
protected characteristic or identity.”
Senate’s email acknowledged that
racial intolerance has been an ongo-ing
issue in the community as this
was not the only such event in the
university’s recent history. It also
linked to resources and reporting
options for students seeking sup-port.
“In my eyes, doing nothing is
unacceptable,” Senate president
Matt Rothberg, ‘18, told The Brown
and White. “You always want to try
to be proactive, and I think that’s
something everyone on campus
need to do. But at the same time,
incidents do happen and when they
do occur, you want to be reactive,
which is something Senate wants to
do more of this year.”
Rothberg said students need to
be cognizant of the culture that
enables these sorts of incidents and
be proactive in addressing it.
“Lehigh is committed to fostering
an inclusive, supportive and wel-coming
environment for all, includ-ing
students, faculty, staff and vis-itors,”
Friedman wrote. “Such dis-criminatory
behavior violates the
core values of our community and
will not be tolerated.”
By REBECCA WILKIN
Managing Editor
In the wake of the alcohol-relat-ed
deaths of Penn State student
Timothy Piazza and Lafayette
student McCrae Williams, Lehigh
Student Senate, the Peer Health
Advisers and members of the
administration are working to
improve how Lehigh’s medical
amnesty policy is communicated
to the student body.
“Given the climate surrounding
not just our school, but our sister
institutions, including Penn State
and Lafayette, medical amnes-ty
and bystander intervention
are more important than ever,”
Student Senate president Matt
Rothberg, ’18, said.
Lehigh’s medical amnesty poli-cy
states that students who seek
emergency medical attention for
themselves as a result of drugs
or alcohol will not be charged
with violations of the Lehigh
University Code of Conduct relat-ed
to that consumption, provid-ed
they complete an evaluation
and recommended treatment.
Similarly, students seeking emer-gency
medical attention for some-one
else will not be charged with
By FANNY CHEN
B&W Staff
Betsy DeVos, United States secre-tary
of education, announced Sept.
7 that her department is replacing
federal guidance regarding Title IX.
To help dispel confusion and address
concerns on Lehigh’s campus, a Title
IX town hall was held in Maginnes
101 on Oct. 12.
Title IX is a federal law that pro-hibits
discrimination based on sex
at schools and programs that receive
federal funding, including protec-
Klaudia Jazwinska/B&W Staff
In this Nov. 2, 2014, file photo, Adam Van Handel, ’15, removes supplies from a Lehigh
EMS vehicle. Many organizations on campus, such as Student Senate and the Peer Health
Advisers, are coming together to help improve communication with students in regards to
Lehigh’s medical amnesty policy.
Sara Boyd/B&W Staff
From left, Shelby Carr, ’17, Claire Silva, ’17, and doctorate student Sarita Mizin attend the Title IX town hall discussing the Title IX guidelines
on Oct. 12 in Maginnes Hall. These guidelines concern the issue of sex discrimination in education programs that receive federal funding.
tion from sexual harassment. The
guidance, developed in 2011 and
2014, was established by the Obama
administration in an effort to make
investigations of sexual assault and
harassment fair and equitable for all
students.
According to interim guidance
enforced by DeVos, the 2011 and 2014
guidance has now been rescinded
until new guidance is issued. Colleges
are no longer bound to the old frame-work
and can establish their own pro-cedures
and policies for Title IX cases
until further notice.
The Department of Education has
not made any comments regarding
when new guidance will be issued or
how the guidance will be changed.
However, policymakers believe the
new guidance will most likely be
imposed in 18 months.
DeVos’ announcement inspired
backlash from college students, advo-cacy
groups and policymakers nation-wide.
Many are concerned about the
See TITLE IX Page 3
See AMNESTY Page 4
violation of the Code of Conduct.
Chris Mulvihill, the interim
associate dean of student conduct
and community expectations, said
if a student were to call for help
for a friend who was in need
of emergency medical assistance,
both students would avoid reper-cussions
with the university’s
conduct system.
However, Mulvihill said the
students may still have to inter-act
with local law enforcement,
and this is not under the univer-sity’s
control.
In the state of Pennsylvania,