Meet GFU’s First Confidential Title IX Advocate
By: Aurora Biggers
Photographed by: Danny Walker
NEWBERG, Ore.—In December, George Fox University (GFU) hired the institution’s first confidential Title IX advocate. Jacklyn Gebhard is earning her MSW (Master’s in social work) through GFU’s graduate program and is interning as the undergraduate confidential advocate.
Though GFU has low crime statistics to begin with, other universities have found that when Title IX reporting is prioritized, reports of sexual and gender-based harassment, dating violence, and assault tend to increase. Gebhard says this will likely be true for GFU as well. When asked if she believed reporting would increase as students become more aware of their resources, Gebhard said, “I think so, yes.
“I want to stress that there is complete confidentiality,” Gebhard said. In the past, students have been directed to contact their Resident Assistant or Area Coordinator for Title IX support, but Gebhard said those who work in Residence Life don’t have to uphold the same level of confidentiality as her, and are not trained in trauma-informed care. Outside of mandatory reporting (if a student expresses plans to harm themself or others,) Gebhard does not share student information with any local or GFU authorities.
Gebhard also stressed that students would not be penalized if Title IX-related incidents happened while they were breaking the lifestyle contract. “I think [the lifestyle contract] is a barrier,” Gebhard said, but GFU grants conditional immunity to lifestyle contract violations when students seek help about Title IX issues.
Gebhard said she doesn’t know what prior statistics for reporting were like, but she does expect there will be an increase. “The stats are that one in four women get assaulted on a college campus. That number doesn’t make sense [at GFU]. There should be a lot more [reports]” Gebhard said of the low Title IX reporting rates at the university.
Alongside issues of sexual assault and harrassment, Gebhard is also available to discuss Title IX issues in regards to LGBTQIA+ discrimination and harrassment. After being hired, Gebhard became aware that GFU has an active policy and a Title IX exemption that allows the insitution to discriminate against queer students, but she considers herself disconnected from university politics and wants to be a neutral party for students to contact.
Gebhard did not know about Common Ground, the student club for LGBTQIA students (not officially supported by the university) or Table 14, the affirming non-profit next to campus and staffed by GFU-affiliated students and former faculty, but she says she wants to make sure queer students are better supported within her role. “They’re a part of Title IX too,” Gebhard said, “The LGBTQ community is so vulnerable … I want to know how to better support them.”
Amy Ralston, the university’s human sexuality care initiative coordinator, did not respond to repeated emails for interviews.
Gebhard’s position is temporary because her internship concludes on April 30, but she said she has arranged for a new advocate to take her place in the fall.
IRC photographed by Danny Walker