media mention

Hello, Pregnant Stranger

Josia Klein, a counsel for the National Women’s Law Center’s Education and Workplace Justice Team, says the employee cannot opt out of giving the coordinator’s contact to the student.

“They are required,” she says. “That’s that.”

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According to Klein, student privacy is the most important thing included in the updated Title IX pregnancy clause.

“So privacy is paramount for students, especially when pregnancy and related conditions are involved,” she says. “Under the new rules, a school generally cannot disclose an individual’s personally identifiable information obtained through the course of compliance with Title IX.”

Klein says she hasn’t heard of other universities or colleges allowing employees to directly pass student information to the Title IX coordinator. University of Oregon officials say they will not be requiring employees to inform the school about a student’s pregnancy-related condition without the student’s permission.

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Higher education employees are required to give the Title IX coordinator’s contact information to students who are pregnant, have recently given birth or have experienced another pregnancy-related condition, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s Title IX fact sheet.

“Title IX is a floor, not a ceiling,” Klein says, calling the exchange of the coordinator’s contact information a “low burden” for employees.

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Klein says that LCC’s procedure isn’t necessarily violating Title IX, as the regulation doesn’t directly state not to take this alternative route, but the college is not honoring the path outlined by the law.

“The text is very clear that the requirements of Title IX are that the employees provide the students with the Title IX coordinator’s contact information,” Klein says. “That, coupled with the rules emphasis that students’ privacy rights be protected and that personally identifiable information not be inappropriately disclosed, I think is key.”