Sixteen Transy students joined a conference call with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright last Wednesday.
The conference call was organized by an outreach program of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Washington-based think-tank that hosts weekly calls with universities. Transy students had the opportunity to participate along with other elite institutions around the country.
This week’s topic was the rise of authoritarian nationalism in powerful countries, the subject of Albright’s new book Fascism: A Warning.
Albright knows intimately the consequences of extreme national movements. Born in then-Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic) in 1937, she and her family were forced to flee to Britain in 1939, ten days after the Nazis invaded. They then endured the Luftwaffe’s violent air raids on London.
Despite the post-war global effort to end fascism, Albright says we are seeing its rise once again.
She defines fascism as “a division in society where one side has a strong, almost tribal connection with the ruling government and favors that side over the other. Those belonging to the minority group often fear for their lives.”
Albright also noted the desire of nationalists to find a scapegoat for rising inequality, which she says has taken form in anti-immigration movements.
Fascism thrives in times of social, economic, and political chaos. Albright says that certain other factors, like developing technology and communication methods, can cause some people to cling to their ethnic, religious, or geographic identities.
After Albright’s introduction, students had the opportunity to ask her questions. They asked about subjects ranging from the current political climate to her historic trip to North Korea in 2000.
As the hour came to a close, Albright cautioned that democracies are hard to build but easy to lose. “Democracies are fragile institutions, but resilient through change,” she said. She emphasized that a democracy requires citizens to be active, and said that keeps her hopeful.
Albright is optimistic about the rising generation. “My teachers are becoming younger and younger,” she quipped.
But she warns younger generations “not to take democracy for granted,” and exhorts us always to be active within society while listening attentively to others that disagree.
“It’s easy to forget that there are real people with their own perspectives and lived experiences who actually sit in the driver’s seat and make these important decisions,” said Dr. Steve Hess, who organized Transy’s participation on the call. “Having first-person interactions with leaders who are directly engaged in shaping the country’s foreign policy is a rare and extremely valuable opportunity for students interested in international relations.”
Albright was the U.S. Secretary of State from 1997 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton, and the first woman to serve in that role. She is a Director Emerita on the Council on Foreign Relations.
Rebecca Blankenship contributed reporting for this article.
National discussions of crucial importance to ordinary citizens – such as funding for scientific and medical research, bailouts of financial institutions and the current Republican tax proposals – inevitably involve dollar figures in the millions, billions and trillions.
Complicating the issue further, citizens emotionally undeterred by billions and trillions are nonetheless likely to be ill-equipped for meaningful analysis because most people don’t correctly intuit large numbers.
Happily, anyone who can understand tens, hundreds and thousands can develop habits and skills to accurately navigate millions, billions and trillions. Stay with me, especially if you’re math-averse: I’ll show you how to use school arithmetic, common knowledge and a little imagination to train your emotional sense for the large numbers shaping our daily lives.
Estimates and analogies
Unlike Star Trek’s Mr. Spock, scientists and mathematicians are not exacting mental calculators, but habitual estimators and analogy-makers. We use “back of the envelope” calculations to orient our intuition.
The bailout of AIG after the mortgage-backed securities crisis cost more than US$125 billion. The Panama Papers document upward of $20 trillion hidden in a dark labyrinth of shell companies and other tax shelters over the past 40 years. (The recently published Paradise Papers paint an even more extensive picture.) On the bright side, we recovered $165 million in bonuses from AIG executives. That’s something, right?
Let’s find out: On a scale where a million dollars is one penny, the AIG bailout cost taxpayers $1,250. The Panama Papers document at least $200,000 missing from the world economy. On the bright side, we recovered $1.65 in executive bonuses.
In an innumerate world, this is what passes for fiscal justice.
Let’s run through that again: If one penny represents a million, then one thousand pennies, or $10, represents a billion. On the same scale, one million pennies, or $10,000, represents a trillion. When assessing a trillion-dollar expenditure, debating a billion dollars is quibbling over $10 on a $10,000 purchase.
Here, we’ve scaled monetary amounts so that “1,000,000” comprises one unit, then equated that unit to a familiar – and paltry – quantity, one penny. Scaling numbers to the realm of the familiar harnesses our intuition toward understanding relative sizes.
In a sound bite, a savings of $200 million might sound comparable to a $20 trillion cost. Scaling reveals the truth: One is a $2 (200-cent) beverage, the other the $200,000 price of an American home.
If time were money
Suppose you landed a job paying $1 per second, or $3,600 per hour. (I assume your actual pay, like mine, is a tiny fraction of this. Indulge the fantasy!) For simplicity, assume you’re paid 24/7.
At this rate, it would take one million seconds to acquire $1 million. How long is that in familiar terms? In round numbers, a million seconds is 17,000 minutes. That’s 280 hours, or 11.6 days. At $1 per second, chances are you can retire comfortably at the end of a month or few.
At the same job, it takes 11,600 days, or about 31.7 years, to accumulate $1 billion: Doable, but you’d better start young.
To acquire $1 trillion takes 31,700 years. This crummy job doesn’t pay enough!
This analogy gives a taste for the absolute size of a billion, and perhaps of a trillion. It also shows the utter impossibility of an ordinary worker earning $1 billion. No job pays a round-the-clock hourly wage of $3,600.
Nice work if you can get it
Let’s examine the wealth of actual multi-billionaires. Our calculations prove that they acquired more than $1 per second over long intervals. How much more?
Testifying to the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 27, William Browder, an American-born businessman with extensive Russian dealings, estimated that Vladmir Putin controls assets of $200 billion. Let’s assume this figure is substantially correct and that Putin’s meteoric rise began 17 years ago, when he first became president of Russia. What is Putin’s average income?
Seventeen years is about 540 million seconds; $200 billion divided by this is … wow, $370 per second. $1,340,000 per hour. Yet even at this colossal rate, acquiring $1 trillion takes 85 years.
The Panama Papers document some $20 trillion – the combined fortunes of one hundred Vladimir Putins – sequestered in shell companies, untaxed and untraceable. Though the rate of leakage has surely increased over time, for simplicity let’s assume this wealth has bled steadily from the global economy, an annual loss around $500 billion.
How much is this in familiar terms? To find out, divide $500 billion by 31.6 million seconds. Conservatively speaking, the Panama Papers document an ongoing loss averaging $16,000 per second, around the clock, for 40 years.
Fighting over scraps
American cities are now vying for a $5 billion Amazon headquarters, a windfall to transform the local economy lucky enough to win the contract. At the same time, the world economy hemorrhages that amount into a fiscal black hole every few days. Merely stemming this Niagara (not recovering the money already lost) would amount to one hundred new Amazon headquarters per year.
The root cause of our economic plight looms in plain sight when we know the proper scale on which to look. By overcoming math phobia, wielding simple arithmetic, refusing to be muddled by “gazillions,” we become better citizens, avoiding squabbling over pennies when tens of thousands of dollars are missing.
A lot of what we think of as prestige television, shows like Game of Thrones, or The Americans, or Mad Men, or Breaking Bad, are basically shows about bad people doing bad things. Sometimes, those shows seem to take a particular pleasure in killing off (in elaborately gruesome ways) their few well-meaning characters. For example, here’s a 20-minute montage of character deaths from Game of Thrones:
This context makes ‘The Good Place,’ an ABC sitcom now in its third season, stand out in the current cultural moment. The show, which is more philosophically inclined than just about anything airing on American television, has spent the past two seasons advancing a particular kind of philosophical argument: that it’s possible to become a better person, but only with the help of other people.
The show makes this argument by killing a few really awful people. When the show begins, Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) has died. As she was leaving the grocery store, a runaway shopping cart pushed her out into the street, where she was hit by a truck.
She wakes up in The Good Place, where only the best people go when they die. As Michael (Ted Danson), the otherworldly administrator of The Good Place cheerfully explains to her, 99% of people go to The Bad Place instead, where they’re tortured for eternity.
Since Eleanor was a world-changing human rights lawyer, she made it into The Good Place! The only problem is that Eleanor wasn’t a human rights lawyer—she was kind of a disaster of a human being. She sold fake medicine to old people over the phone, she was a selfish friend, and she didn’t even try to be a good person. Somehow, she got into The Good Place by mistake.
But she tries to become a better person, and the show is largely about how that happens. She relies on her ‘soulmate,’ a professor of moral philosophy named Chidi Anagonye (William Jackson Harper) to teach her ethics, and sometimes friends Tahani (Jameela Jamil) and Jianyu (Manny Jacinto) to teach her how to be a good person in more than just theory.
Along the way, the show develops a real philosophical premise—when Eleanor tries to solve a problem on her own, her ethical skills usually fail her; when she wants to find out why Tahani is in a bad mood, she steals her diary, for example. But when she relies on others, she learns how to take other people’s perspectives and feelings into account, and figures out the right thing to do. (For example: Tahani explains to her why it’s important to actually pay attention to Chidi’s long lessons about Plato and Aristotle—because it makes Chidi feel appreciated). It all amounts to a show that offers a convincing rebuttal to the endemically individual-focused ethical philosophy of so much of the Western Tradition (here’s looking at you, Immanuel Kant).
This isn’t to say that the show isn’t funny. It is, in fact, extremely funny. Bell and Danson especially have honed the rhythms of sitcom performance into something like brain surgery—each line is delivered so precisely that it sneaks right into your laughbox before you even figure out why it’s supposed to be funny.
However, the jokes are always backed up by a real idea, and by real, sometimes painfully-complex philosophy, and that gives the show a real intellectual and emotional depth. The humor comes from an eminently human place, one that’s grounded in the always-complicated real world, no matter how fanciful The Good Place gets.
In honor of seeing John Mayer at the Bourbon and Beyond music Festival this past weekend, I’ve compiled some of his best acoustic songs (even the obscure ones). His songwriting is brilliant, combined with his natural talent to play endless, heart-stopping guitar solos. What more could you ask for? Safe to say, he’s one of my all-time favorite artists. Take a listen to this playlist for some chill weekend vibes!
As far as arts events this week, there’s not a lot going on at the moment. We have the continuation of the exhibit Lake Effect curated by Executive Director of Exhibitions at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Trevor Martin. This exhibit showcases art from four different female artists, Claire Ashley, Jacklyn Mednicov, Susanna Coffey, and Maryam Taghavi. The pieces range from a video, to sculpture, to paintings, and more. Check out this fabulous exhibit Monday-Friday, noon-5pm!
There is no denying that dogs have invaded campus culture. The presence of dogs in campus programs and on social media reflects the excitement and comfort they offer to Transy students, faculty, and staff.
Last semester, Omicron Delta Kappa and the Order of Omega hosted a philanthropic “puppy playtime” event where students could play with dogs from the Lexington Humane Society. During finals week, the Student Activities Board threw a Winter Stress Fest and offered “Canine Playtime” to students, who played with puppies and relieved the ruff-er symptoms of test anxiety.
In the spirit of this impact, we’ve featured six very good dogs you may see around campus.
Sarah Teasdale and Bailey
Photo courtesy of Sarah Teasdale.
Bailey is a fourteen-year-old Jack Russell Terrier, who Teasdale describes as “an old grandma who is still full of life.”
What is your dog’s personality like?
“She can be best described as sleepy. She mostly just naps throughout the day until she gets the zoomies. If you interrupt her from one of her naps, though, she can be pretty sassy and will shoot a death glare in your direction.”
What is your dog’s favorite activity? What does your dog get excited about?
“Her favorite activity is sleeping, but she loves going for long walks. She has arthritis from being so old, but it doesn’t stop her from getting around, she’s just a little slower than she used to be. Some of my friends have said that giving her some CBD products (Click here to see some examples) could improve her mobility and reduce her pain. Maybe its something we will consider but currently, she seems content sleeping.”
What do you love about having your dog on campus?
“It allows me to get out of my room. Where I would normally hole myself up in my room, she forces me to get out and get some fresh air by walking. She also allows me to meet people or talk to people I don’t typically speak to, she also has the ability to cheer up others and not just myself which is an added bonus I didn’t expect. Everyone knows how much I love my dog, which is why I was recommended to look into buying pet insurance through a company like pet insurance reviews, just in case anything was to happen to her. Dog’s do get sick as we all know, which is why this is the best route to go down. It will provide you with a level of comfort knowing that you are doing what’s right for your pet. “ Some owners even go on a walking holiday with their dog and their campervan! This is a good way to burn calories and see scenes that you wouldn’t normally see walking in your local area! Just remember, if you are travelling around the country in a camper, be sure to check out One Sure Insurance so that you know all the information and benefits of ensuring a camper!
What is one funny or interesting story you have about having your dog on campus? Or what is one funny or interesting thing your dog has done?
“My favorite story of Bailey is probably the time that I found her hidden in my shoe pile. She really likes burrowing in places, so that day I came in and couldn’t find her. After having a small heart attack she peeked her head out and all was well, but it was pretty darn adorable.”
Gracie Howard and Lucy
Check out Lucy’s Instagram page, @lucy_theaussiedoodle! Photo courtesy of Gracie Howard.
Lucy is a 7-month-old Toy Aussiedoodle, which is a mix between an Australian Shepherd and Poodle.
What is your dog’s personality like?
“She has a very energetic, funny, and playful personality. She was the runt of her litter, and I’ve been told that runts tend to have the biggest personalities.”
What is your dog’s favorite activity? What does your dog get excited about?
“She enjoys walks, fetch, and belly rubs. She gets really excited for when I come back from class and to meet new people.”
What do you love about having your dog on campus?
“I love having someone that is always happy to see me and that keeps me active. Without having her on campus I would spend way more time in my room. She has to go outside so this makes me go as well.”
Photo courtesy of Gracie Howard.
What are some common misconceptions from others about your dog and having it on campus?
“Some people think it’s difficult to have your dog on campus to balance between giving it attention and doing your school work, but it isn’t. It’s actually a nice break from my homework to go walk her around back circle or play fetch with her.”
What is one funny or interesting story you have about having your dog on campus? Or what is one funny or interesting thing your dog has done?
“She is very popular on campus. Some people actually know me as Lucy’s owner and they don’t know my name, so that is sometimes funny to me. She also enjoys digging holes in back circle, which I try to make her not do so she won’t get in trouble.”
Hannah Compton and Jack
Photo courtesy of Hannah Compton.
Jack is a three-year-old Toy Poodle.
Why did you choose the name “Jack?”
“I love pumpkins and I have a pumpkin tattoo. Like Jack o’Lantern, that’s where that came from. My nursery was decked out in pumpkins and I have pumpkins up year round.”
What is your dog’s personality like?
“He’s crazy but in the best way possible. He’ll be shy around people he doesn’t know, but then he’ll be friends with anybody as long as I tell him because he’ll be really wary at first. If I’m in the room and somebody picks him up, he’ll fight them so he can come to sit with me. But if I’m not in the room, he’s fine with everyone.”
What is your dog’s favorite activity? What does your dog get excited about?
“He loves it when people come over because he gets so much attention. He doesn’t like it when I take him outside, I, of course, take him out to socialize him some, but he gets nervous. He likes it when people come in because I guess he realizes that I trust them enough to let them into our space. He doesn’t play with toys, which makes me really sad because I buy him Halloween and pumpkin toys. He ignores them. If you tap your hands on the ground he’ll get really excited and start running around in circles.”
Photo courtesy of Hannah Compton.
What do you love about having your dog on campus?
“I would not have been able to come to school without him. He’s my best friend in the whole world.”
What is one funny or interesting story you have about having your dog on campus? Or what is one funny or interesting thing your dog has done?
“He does something interesting every single day. [Compton’s boyfriend] drove to Louisville to pick up some clothes and left them in my car for so long I got annoyed and brought them in and left them on my floor. Jack peed on them thinking they were a pad. That happened just now.”
Is there anything we haven’t discussed that you would like to include in this feature? Anything you want other students to know or understand?
“Everyone should know that Jack is the best dog ever. That’s kinda controversial, but it’s straight facts.”
Rachel Gordon and Weenie Beanie Eddie Gordon
Photo courtesy of Rachel Gordon.
Weenie is a two-year-old miniature Dotson.
Why did you choose that name?
“You know the show, Oswald? He had a little wiener dog named Weenie. That’s what I named him after. My mom has a dog named Junie which is also my grandma’s name and we thought we should name him Eddie after my grandfather, so it would have been Junie and Eddie. We just added another name to it.”
What is your dog’s personality like?
“He’s very curious. He really likes attention, but he likes some dogs and thinks he’s the boss man. If people try to touch him and crowd him he gets freaked out. He seems to like guys more than girls. Girls are very persistent about wanting to pet him and guys are not so much. He’s very wild, I think mostly because he’s young. He’s very stubborn.”
What is your dog’s favorite activity? What does your dog get excited about?
“He loves playing fetch in the dorm with his little-stuffed squirrel. He loves it because it’s small enough for him to squeak the toy but it’s getting a bit old and raggedy now so I might have to go to DogProductPicker.com to find another one. I never taught him to fetch, he really just loves to play and run around back and forth. It’s a mixture of fetch and tug of war. We played fetch one time for three hours straight.”
What do you love about having your dog on campus?
“He’s here as my emotional support pet. Last year I didn’t have him. He is my baby. He’s my boyfriend replacement. I love having him here. It’s so much easier falling asleep because I’m so used to having him at home.”
What is the ‘reality’ of having your dog on campus?
“It’s a lot of work. You have to worry about feeding him and taking him out. It’s like taking care of a child. You have to clean up the poop out of the grass, even if there are people walking. There could be a cute boy walking by and you’d have poop in your hand, but it’s fine. But, really, it’s a lot of fun.
Photo courtesy of Rachel Gordon.
What is one funny or interesting story you have about having your dog on campus? Or what is one funny or interesting thing your dog has done?
“I took him up to Pio on the 4th floor to study. He likes to explore, but he doesn’t want people to acknowledge him, he likes to be very ‘fly on the wall.’ He would walk around while people were studying and lick their toes. People would say ‘Your dog is licking my toes,’ and I was like ‘I am so sorry!'”
Is there anything we haven’t discussed that you would like to include in this feature? Anything you want other students to know or understand?
“I’m just going to put this out there. If anybody does meet him and he runs away, I’m sorry. If he does bark at you, I’m sorry. His bark is really annoying. It’s really high pitched. He’s sweet, he just likes to act like he’s not.”
Madelyn Frost, Assistant Director of Residence Life, and Buddy the Residence Life Dog
Photo courtesy of Madelyn Frost.
Buddy is one year and four months old and is a Beagle mix.
What is your dog’s personality like?
“He went to daycare the other day and they wrote that he loves to play with other dogs, which is true. He’s happy, friendly, outgoing, and energetic. They said he was fantastic during group play and had puppy pals. I love that.”
What is your dog’s favorite activity? What does your dog get excited about?
“He loves water, he loves to go to the lake or the river. We go to Cave Run Lake and the Kentucky River all the time. He loves it. He will just jump right in. He used to be hesitant about water, but now I’ll throw a stick in and he’ll go get it.”
What do you love about having your dog so close to campus?
“I love the fact that I can walk home and get him and also the fact that when he walks into back circle he knows that people will pet him. So we’ll go on a walk around campus and we’ll go over to Gratz Park and play in the water for a second, and he’ll come to back circle and he gets so excited. It’s nice to have people who know me and know Buddy.”
Photo courtesy of Madelyn Frost.
What is one funny or interesting story you have about having your dog on campus? Or what is one funny or interesting thing your dog has done?
“He experienced his first snow on campus! One day we went out to the tennis court and blocked it all off and let him run. He wore himself out so much he had to lay down because he was so excited running around and eating the snow.”
Is there anything we haven’t discussed that you would like to include in this feature? Anything you want other students to know or understand?
“If anyone ever needs a dog, don’t bring an illegal dog [on campus]. Just ask and I’ll bring him over.”
Sarah Ripplinger and Baby Bean
Photo courtesy of Sarah Ripplinger.
Baby Bean is a two-year-old Chihuahua and Toy Cairn Terrier mix.
What is your dog’s personality like?
“She’s playful and loves attention form just about anyone at all possible times.”
What is your dog’s favorite activity? What does your dog get excited about?
“She loves to play with her little orange ball. Whether it’s inside or out.”
What do you love about having your dog on campus?
“She keeps me company when I have to hole up and do homework. It’s never boring with her around.”
What is the ‘reality’ of having your dog on campus?
“It can be a challenge to keep up with her. It can get pretty busy depending on what is going on around campus and regardless of what I have going on, I still have to take time to walk her and feed her and make sure that she is getting enough attention to be happy and healthy.”
What is one funny or interesting story you have about having your dog on campus? Or what is one funny or interesting thing your dog has done?
“I was coming out of my room with her and the people across the hall had a friend over. The friend was coming out of the room backwards and didn’t notice her behind him. She was curious and was sniffing him. I had met the guy a couple times and he knew Bean, and then he screams bloody murder and jumps about a foot in the air while still in the doorway. He later said he didn’t know what was there he just seen something moving and it scared him. She got equally scared and was very unhappy about him screaming.”
Baby Bean perched on top of Madelyn Frost’s shoulders. Photo courtesy of Sarah Ripplinger.
Two staffers in the Washington, D.C., Senate office of Rand Paul (R-KY) refused on Wednesday to say whether the Senator believed a person who had committed sexual assault should be disqualified from serving on the Supreme Court.
Both said that Paul, who announced his support for Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation on July 30, would weigh the evidence presented at Thursday’s hearing on the allegations of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, a psychologist who has accused Kavanaugh of attempting to violently rape her at a party in 1982. The staffers indicated the evidence may change Paul’s vote.
Asked whether Paul believed someone who has committed sexual assault should be barred from serving on the Supreme Court, a male staffer said he “didn’t want to put words in [Paul’s] mouth” and referred The Rambler to Paul’s social media accounts to check for “a statement.”
Paul has not posted anything about Kavanaugh or his accusers to his official Facebook or Twitter pages since Ford made her name public on September 16.
In a second call to the same office, a female staffer declined to say whether Paul believed a person who had committed sexual assault should be disqualified from consideration for the lifetime position.
At the time of the calls, three women had accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault. In the hours since, CNN reported that two more women have raised similar allegations. Of these five women, only Ford has been scheduled to testify before the Senate.
A Judiciary Committee vote whether to advance Kavanaugh’s nomination to the full Senate, scheduled for Friday at 9:30 A.M., would seem to preclude the other women’s testimony.
This article is part of our Campus Made Clear series. You can read the whole series here.
If you want to park your car in one of the campus lots, you’re going to need a parking sticker. Parking stickers are $150 for all Transylvania students.
Those without parking passes who have parked in Transylvania University’s lots will get a citation of $25. Once a student has received three citations, the Department of Public Safety has the authority to “boot” your car, which means to lock your car’s tires so you are unable to drive it.
Money from parking stickers and tickets funds the parking revenue budget, which helps construct new Advance Access parking lots, light posts, and security cameras.
“We do everything we can to keep from giving citations,” Chief Gregg Muravchick says. “We, the Department of Public Safety, try to talk with the student about their parking before it gets that drastic.”
This also applies to receiving an invalid citation. If you feel the Department of Public Safety has wrongly given you a citation, Muravchick says to come to DPS and talk it through so they can evaluate the situation and determine the next course of action.
?Muravchick recommends those without parking stickers park on 4th Street or Upper Street, because these are lighted areas where there are available spaces by the curb for all citizens.
?There is a parking mapaccessible on Inside Transy thatexplains where you are allowed to park on campus and which parking lots are for which students. You must visit inside.transy.edu, click on “Public Safety,” “Parking Regulations,” and then “Parking Map.” This map cannot be accessed through Outside Transy. There are also paper parking maps available for you to pick up at DPS in Forrer Hall’s back lobby.
To purchase a parking sticker, fill out a form on Inside Transy by clicking “Public Safety,” “Parking Regulations,” and then “Parking Registration.” The cost will be billed to your tuition account.
DPS is available by phone twenty-four hours a day at (859) 233-8118.?
This article is part of our Campus Made Clear series. You can read the whole series here.
Tucked away in Old Morrison, the Title IX office is a safe space for those coping with a crime all too common: sexual misconduct.
The office is a relatively new addition to Transy’s campus, but provides a significant service for our community under the leadership of Amber Morgan.
Title IX was created by the Education Amendments of 1972, which attempted to combat gender inequality within “education programs and activities in federally funded schools at all levels,” according to the U.S. Department of Education. Because Transy receives federal funds for several programs, it falls under the jurisdiction of these amendments.
By 1993, surveys found that one in three women had experienced some type of sexual misconduct by their senior year. Universities were expected to handle these cases on their own, without federal oversight, which sometimes led to superficial investigations.
In 2011, the Title IX policy was updated to encompass sexual assault and harassment protections for students, faculty, and staff. The revised guidance, issued by the Department of Education, increased schools’ responsibility to address these issues. It required services on campus available to students, as well as prompt and thorough investigation of reported events. This included the requirement that schools hire a Title IX coordinator.
Before these reforms, campuses were not required to respond to sexual misconduct in the way that they are now. Even with significant policy changes, the rate of underreporting is still high.
Morgan has been a familiar face on Transy’s campus since 2016, but in a different role. She managed and continues to manage disability services on campus.
When Ashley Hinton-Moncer, the Title IX Coordinator from 2012 to 2018, took a position with University of Kentucky, Morgan was selected to replace her. Morgan soon sought out the proper training and became Transy’s Title IX Coordinator in February of 2018.
To report an incident, an individual can make an appointment with Morgan. Third party sources can anonymously submit a tip online. The reporting party—Morgan and most civil rights lawyers refrain from using the term complainant—cannot remain confidential to the respondent. The respondent has the right to know the details of the reported event before meeting with Morgan.
The reporting party has the choice of whether to move forward with an investigation sponsored by the university. If the reporting party decides to authorize an investigation, two investigators will gather information from social media, text messages, emails, and interview witnesses.
Once the initial investigation has been conducted and Morgan has met with both the reporting party and the respondent, both parties receive a dossier detailing the evidence. The reporting party can suggest possible sanctions on the respondent or drop the charges altogether.
The Transy Title IX policy protects both parties from retaliation.
If either the reporting party or respondent objects to an aspect of the dossier, the case goes to the Sexual Misconduct Hearing Board. Morgan must organize and present to the Board evidence received from both parties. The outcome of the case is not her decision. (Every case brought to the Title IX office is different, so this brief description is not an accurate timeline for every case.)
Morgan can communicate with other Title IX offices if an incident occurs on another campus, to use the judicial process at that institution.
The Title IX process can be traumatic for both the reporting party and the respondent. It requires an individual to recount often-painful memories and can cause a student to become distressed. Students in distress can exhibit decreased appetite, irregular sleeping patterns, missing classes, and missing other assignments regularly. If you have a concern about a friend or about yourself, the Counseling Center is always available.
Aside from coordinating investigations, education is a large part of Morgan’s job. From conducting an informational session about Title IX for athletes and Greek organizations to training members of the staff and faculty on campus annually, Morgan’s job is to make Transy’s campus a little bit safer.
Morgan wants students to know that “the Title IX office is here to listen and we are here to offer assistance. Students shouldn’t feel discouraged. People don’t have to be 100% or fairly certain of an instance of alleged sexual misconduct, but pass that information along. You may be the fourth or fifth person to tell me about this and that makes me think there might be some legitimacy to this.”
Morgan’s office is located in Old Morrison Room 111. She is in the office from 8:30 to 5:00 daily and can be reached by phone at (859) 233-8502 or by email at titleix@transy.edu.
You can read more about Transy’s Title IX policy and procedures here.
In honor of the first day of fall, the Transylvania boys’ soccer team hosted UC Clermont at Pat Deacon Stadium.
The first period was plagued with frustration for the Pioneers. Despite achieving a 15 to 1 shot advantage, the team failed to net a goal. The Pios were in a 0-0 tie at the half, but used the break to regroup.
In the second period, the Pioneers’ attack mentality remained, but their execution changed for the better. In the 75th minute, junior forward Alex Shkraba netted the contest’s first goal, courtesy of first-year midfielder Tyler Dobbs’s assist.
The Pios, taking up the when-it-rains-it-pours philosophy, would score two more goals in just the next 12 minutes. The first came in the the 80th minute from a free kick by junior Charlie Wend. The third and final goal, assisted by DJ Sanders, came from first-year forward Tyler Kenney. This was Kenney’s first goal in college play.
The game ended with a final score of 3-0, Pioneers.
The Pioneers won this game because of an offensive attack mindset and solid defense, which only allowed two shots the entire game. This was clear on the field and showed in the game statistics. The Pioneers dominated the contest in both time of possession and shots taken.
The contest witnessed solid goalkeeper play from both sides. Transylvania’s Drew Grisham picked up the shutout, while UC Clermont’s Tyler Austin secured eight saves and allowed just three goals, despite 31 shots being fired his way.
About 150 people attended the game, consistent with past games this season despite 59 degree weather and overcast skies. Also in attendance were 40 Anderson County High School soccer players who came by bus to see the game.
This was Transylvania’s first home win of the season, improving their record to 2-3-2. The Cougars of UC Clermont fell to 2-5.
The Pioneers will next travel to Anderson, Indiana, on Saturday September 29, to take on the Anderson University Ravens. The game will start at 3:00 PM.
