Heather Lindkvist, the Title IX officer and an anthropology professor at Bates College, will begin serving as Dartmouth’s Title IX coordinator and Clery Act compliance officer in August, the College announced earlier this month.
In the role, Lindkvist will ensure College compliance with the Clery Act and Title IX standards, which prohibit sex-based discrimination at institutions that receive federal funding.
General counsel and search committee chair Robert Donin said Lindkvist will develop policy, train colleagues, oversee cases and monitor compliance with the Clery Act, all of which Lindkvist has experience with from Bates.
Lindkvist said Title IX coordinators on college campuses have a depth of knowledge on the statute and can pay attention to larger issues around discrimination and harassment. The role will include addressing discrimination based on gender, gender identity and sexual orientation, she said. Adding that she will be a “centralizing structure” for prevention, education and outreach to ensure the proper handling of policy and specific cases.
She said that the position will involve working with student organizations, faculty, preexisting structures and various schools at the College.
She said she will start by getting to know the Dartmouth community.
“There’s a lot of listening that I think needs to happen with everyone on campus,” she said.
Lindkvist began working as a lecturer and visiting instructor in the anthropology department at Bates in 2003 and was appointed special assistant to the president for diversity and inclusion and acting director of the office of equity and diversity eight years later. She later became Title IX officer at Bates.
Kent Fischer, a Bates spokesperson, wrote in an email that Lindkvist worked to bring the college’s policies up to date with Title IX standards and ensure support for students.
Ethics Institute executive director and search committee member Aine Donovan said the search committee sought candidates that would take time to get to know Dartmouth.
Donin said the position is needed in part because of recent expansions in the requirements for Title IX and Clery Act compliance.
“The work involved is much greater than it was even a few years ago,” he said.
In May 2013, students and alumni filed a Clery Act complaint against the College, and the Department of Education opened an investigation into Dartmouth’s Title IX compliance regarding sexual assault that month.
Donovan noted that a misunderstanding of what kind of behavior is and is not appropriate on college campuses highlights the need to create a unique Title IX coordinator position. She said the College needs someone to be a source of authority on the rules, but that Lindkvist will be a resource, not a “sheriff,” to students and faculty.
Meetings with students, faculty and staff during Lindkvist’s first several months at the College will determine what issues she will address, Donin said.
Lindkvist said she looks forward to living and working at the College.
“Everyone with whom I’ve met or spoken to about Dartmouth is excited that I’m coming, so that speaks volumes about the community there, and I’ve been so impressed with the number of people who have spoken up and said, ‘This is something we really want to address as a community, as a college,’” she said.
Title IX compliance is currently managed by vice president of Institutional Diversity and Equity Evelynn Ellis.
