The College Fix

U.S. Ed Dept says there’s no requirement that mandatory reporters inform colleges of student pregnancies

A controversial new Sarah Lawrence College policy that required Resident Assistants and administrators to report student pregnancies to its Title IX office has been changed after backlash, The College Fix learned Monday.

The prestigious New York institution has faced criticism both on and off campus for the policy, which was first announced in the fall. Students compared it to the dystopian “Handmaid’s Tale,” and pro-life leaders and an attorney raised concerns about potential privacy violations and fear among pregnant students.

“Sarah Lawrence’s policy is Title IX compliant; to avoid confusion, the policy was updated to clarify that mandated reporters are only required to report to the Title IX Coordinator should an instance of sex discrimination on the basis of pregnancy or related condition occur,” campus spokesperson Patricia Pasquale told The Fix on Monday.

She did not immediately respond to a follow up email asking if any student pregnancies were reported under the policy before it was revised, how the college plans to inform mandatory reporters of the change, and where the guidance came from that prompted the initial policy.

The change came after a U.S. Department of Education official told The Fix that there is no pregnancy reporting requirement under Title IX.

In the fall, Sarah Lawrence informed all mandated reporters, including RAs and administrators, that they now must file an official report informing its Title IX office of any student pregnancies or “pregnancy-related conditions,” the Phoenix student newspaper reported in mid-December.

Kristin Collado, campus Title IX coordinator, pointed to recent changes the Biden administration made to the federal regulation as a reason for the new reporting requirement, according to the newspaper.

Collado told the Phoenix the purpose is to improve pregnant students’ communication with her office, ensure they have pregnancy resources, and prevent discrimination.

However, some of the RAs that spoke to the newspaper said they feel like the policy means they “have to report someone for having a uterus” and increases “control” over students’ personal affairs.

An U.S. Education Department spokesperson told The Fix the Biden administration’s regulatory changes “do not require colleges to report pregnant students to the Title IX office.”

Instead, the goal is “to prevent sex discrimination and ensure the student’s equal access to the school’s education program or activity,” the spokesperson told The Fix in an email last week.

The Biden administration’s changes “state that when a student informs a school employee of the student’s pregnancy or related condition, the employee must promptly provide the student with the Title IX Coordinator’s contact information,” the spokesperson said.

This will ensure students have “the information they need to choose whether to seek reasonable modifications, voluntary leave, or access to a lactation space as necessary, and will help prevent potential disruptions to their education,” the spokesperson said.

The changes, which went into effect in August, are meant to “empower students” to choose “school-based supports” and discourage sex discrimination from occurring, the spokesperson said.

Reporting policy creates ‘fear,’ distrust: lawyer

Prior to Monday’s announcement from the college, Paul Zimmerman, an attorney at the Defense of Freedom Institute, expressed concerns about its reporting policy, saying it would pit the administration against the student body.

“The policy also creates a wedge between students and trusted advisors like an RA because students will rightly fear that any details they share with the RA will go directly to the administration,” Zimmerman told The Fix in a recent email interview.

It appears “to be based on a similar goal of empowering the campus Title IX bureaucracy at the expense of student autonomy. It ignores that college students, not school employees, should be in the driver’s seat regarding whether and how they report the fact of their pregnancy to the school,” he told The Fix.

Zimmerman also said the reporting policy may be an intrusion of privacy since it could contradict the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

“The law requires that access to such records by college officials be based on a ‘legitimate educational interest’ in the information; students could argue that the Title IX Coordinator’s interest here, in tracking pregnancies and related conditions across the institution, is far from legitimate,” he said.

As senior counsel on policy and regulatory issues, Zimmerman said he adamantly opposes Biden’s overall changes to Title IX, describing them as an “unlawful rewrite” that “destroys free speech, due process, and privacy and safety” for women in education.

Pro-life leaders calls for ‘supportive policies,’ not mandates

Two advocates in the pro-life movement also urged Sarah Lawrence to revise the policy for the sake of pregnant students.

Serrin Foster, president of Feminists for Life of America, said she thinks the college meant well with the reporting requirement, but expressed concerned that it would do more harm than good.

“Pregnant students may very well feel isolated if they can’t talk to their RA – or anyone on campus if they fear being reported and their privacy violated,” Foster told The Fix in an email interview.

Foster said she appreciates that Sarah Lawrence openly discloses its “legal obligations to pregnant students who have rights.”

She said she would welcome a partnership with the college to host a forum to discuss providing “a safety net for students in need” and ensuring “supportive policies are in place.”

Michele Venditto, a spokesperson at Students for Life of America, told The Fix her organization works with colleges through its Standing with You initiative to create better policies for pregnant and parenting students.

To date, she said Students for Life has successfully helped pass new policies at “more than 30 colleges and universities in the past three years.”

“We recommend regularly educating the student body and faculty about existing Title IX support and highlighting any pregnant or parenting policies on campus,” Venditto said.

“Pregnancy especially is a delicate season in a woman’s life, and knowing someone may ‘report’ her pregnancy may add unnecessary pressure to choose abortion as she discerns her next steps,” Venditto told The Fix.

While Zimmerman also hopes pregnant students will receive support on campus, he believes a lawsuit may be the key to enacting real, positive changes to Title IX.

Zimmerman said the Defense of Freedom Institute and the attorneys general of Louisiana, Montana, Mississippi, and Idaho recently won a “first-in-the-nation preliminary injunction against enforcement” of Biden’s recent changes.

He said he is “confident” that President-elect Donald Trump will be able to “rescind the regulations” and there will be a “nationwide injunction” for Title IX.

Zimmerman expressed hope that Congress will pass legislation that “restores Title IX to its original purpose.”

“Such a law would, among other things, … ensure that schools treat pregnant students fairly and offer them reasonable accommodations, and require postsecondary institutions to respect the decisions of their students whether to share personal information with the Title IX Coordinator or pursue discrimination claims,” he told The Fix.

MORE: Still no proof Indiana pro-life law hurt ‘quality of candidates’ for OB/GYN residency

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