Title IX welcome
The below email was sent on August 12, 2022 from Bindu Jayne, J.D., Title IX Coordinator on behalf of her office and Joshua Ellow, Alcohol & Other Drugs Counselor and Educator.
Dear Class of 2026 and transfer students -
Welcome to Swarthmore! We look forward to welcoming you all to Swarthmore College in a few short weeks.
As you begin your journey, we are focused on helping you make a smooth, safe, and successful transition into all aspects of life at Swarthmore. We aim to help you settle in personally, begin to form friendships, and acclimate socially. At Swarthmore we care about your physical health and emotional well-being as much as your academic growth and intellectual development.
To this end, we want every new student who is joining the Swarthmore community to have an understanding of issues related to sex, relationships, alcohol and drugs, sexual and relationship violence, and how to build a caring campus community.
This week you will receive access to online training programs that will discuss all of these topics. We expect you to complete the modules in the next two weeks. We hope that this training is only the beginning of your learning and exploration about these issues.
As you move through this training, we also ask that you keep a few things in mind:
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Going to college can be a fun, new, and, at times, overwhelming experience. You will have many choices to make about how you want to live here. This includes choices about sex and relationships, as well as alcohol and drugs. We are providing this training to help you make healthy, safe choices for yourself and your new community.
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While not everyone will decide to be sexually active at college, some may, and those relationships may last a night or a lifetime. Regardless, good communication and respect is what is most important.
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At Swarthmore, we strive to move beyond the gender binary when discussing issues of sex and relationships. There are many members of our community who are transgender, non-binary, and/or gender non-conforming and it is paramount that all of our members feel supported, affirmed, and seen.
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We recognize that sex education varies widely in elementary and secondary education, so are providing this training to all incoming students to ensure there is a baseline of knowledge around issues of healthy relationships and consent.
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It is not uncommon for students entering college to already have had personal experiences with drugs and alcohol and/or sexual and relationship violence. Please know that there are resources available to you on campus to discuss any concerns that you have about these issues,regardless of whether they pertain to your time at Swarthmore, including: Josh Ellow, Alcohol & Other Drug Counselor and Bindu Jayne, Title IX Coordinator. You can find a full list of on- and off- campus resources for issues of sexual violence and healthy relationships information and resources about alcohol and other drugs.
Please be sure to complete these training modules by Friday, August 26. Here are the logistics for accessing the training: you will receive an email from an @everfi.net email address and with the subject "Online Course Assigned to you by Swarthmore College." Click on "Log In" to begin accessing the two modules. You will receive reminder emails until you complete the modules.
If you have any questions or concerns about the training’s content, please contact us - Bindu Jayne, Title IX Coordinator, 610-690-3720 or bjayne1@swarthmore.edu, or Josh Ellow, 610-957-6152 or jellow1
Again, welcome to Swarthmore and we look forward to meeting you all in person soon!
Best,
Bindu and Josh
