After four failed searches, Boise State undergoes fifth for Title IX coordinator
Jordan Parker Erb; Idaho Press
BOISE — After four failed searches for a permanent Title IX coordinator, Boise State University is in the final stages of a fifth search for someone to fill the position. The decision committee, made up of nine Boise State faculty and staff and three students, will be deliberating in the weeks to come and aims to fill the position before the start of the fall semester.
According to Alicia Estey, the current Title IX coordinator, the pool was narrowed down from roughly 40 applicants, leaving two finalists vying to fill the spot.
The candidates for the position are Taylor Sinclair, the system director for Title IX for the Nebraska State College System, and Danielle Berish Charters, the special assistant to the athletic director at Boise State.
This position oversees compliance efforts regarding sexual misconduct, and is responsible for aiding and educating the campus community regarding its obligations under Title IX. The coordinator is the university’s primary resource for Title IX complaints, making it a key role on campus — especially at a time when students are demanding action against sexual assault and questioning the university’s transparency.
The Title IX coordinator can be filled at either an entry-level or experienced-level position, based on the candidate’s experience. Sinclair is applying to fill the position as an experienced coordinator, while Charters is applying at the entry level.
Charters has worked at the university since 2012 and has dealt with NCAA compliance, but has no direct experience with Title IX. During an open forum on May 30, Charters said while she may not have robust experience with Title IX, she has been to trainings with her previous department, and has other skills that make up for that deficit.
“I think first and foremost for me, I have direct experience working with students,” Charters said. “I think that that is a really huge part of this job. The other part is that I have a lot of institutional knowledge from working here the last seven years, and I have a good understanding of what our policy is. I have an understanding of what the political climate here is. I’ve attended a few things over the last year to help gauge what that Title IX climate is for our students and staff.”
As a graduate from the University of Idaho College of Law, Charters said she has analytical and legal expertise that would help with the job. The rest, she said, could be learned through Title IX-specific training, which she said would be first on her list of to-dos if hired.
Sinclair, the second candidate, has served as the system director for Title IX for the Nebraska State College System for two years, where she worked closely with universities’ Title IX coordinators. She holds a degree from Stetson University College of Law.
Sinclair said that while she has the technical knowledge to do the job, she would like more direct interaction with students, and would make those relationships a priority if hired.
“I’d like to have more interaction with students than I currently do, and I want to find a campus community that I can call home,” Sinclair said. “I work at the system level for my institution now and I travel to our three campuses when needed, so I get to experience different campus communities, but I’m not really a part of any of them. I want to be able to find somewhere where I can be a part of the community and really get invested in it.”
The search comes at an interesting time for Boise State, with students demanding that the university address sexual assault, as well as raising questions about the university’s transparency concerning fraternities’ and sororities’ conduct violations. Charters addressed this during the open forum.
“For the last nine months — and maybe even a little bit further back than that — on campus, it seems like there’s a really big need from students to have more transparency in the process,” Charters said. “To have better access to what the policy is, a better understanding of what it is, and doing more education. To me, on a surface level, those are where I would focus.”
Connor Johnson, a student on the decision committee and the president of Boise State’s interfraternity council, will be working with the new coordinator to bring more preventative education to the campus, particularly to the Greek community.
Johnson said that with student interest in Title IX growing, the next coordinator can expect more deeply engaged students, with whom she will need to work and whose needs she will need to address.
“From what I’ve understood from talking to other people on the committee, student involvement and student interest in Title IX issues has really skyrocketed in the past couple of years,” Johnson said. “Whereas three years ago it maybe wasn’t as much of a topic on campus, there are a lot more students involved with it. That’s a really awesome thing to see, so I think that’s what they’re going to be approaching as they go forward. They’re going to have to work with students to make sure their voices are heard.”
The four failed searches have left Estey as the Title IX coordinator since January 2017. She also serves as the university’s chief of staff — to whom the Title IX coordinator reports — and chief compliance officer. For these roles, Estey’s annual salary was $205,004.80. The new coordinator is expected to make between $85,000 and $90,700, depending on experience.
According to Estey, the previous searches failed because no candidate had the skill set, nor the disposition, to do the job.
“Some positions, you can find someone who’s maybe a ‘C’ candidate and it works out because the work still gets done and it’s OK. This is not one of those positions, and I feel very, very strongly about that,” Estey said. “You have to have the right person with the right skill set, and a passion for doing this work. It’s really, really hard work. It’s unforgiving.”