Episode 51: The Importance of Visibility of the Title IX Coordinator with Betsy Smith

Jan 26, 2023

Today on The Law and Education Podcast, we sit down with the Director of Title IX Services at ICS, Betsy Smith to talk about why visibility for the Title IX Coordinator is so essential. Betsy brings a unique skill set to the ICS team, having served as an assistant district attorney and student affairs professional. Recently, she worked for five years as the Director of Student Conduct and Deputy Title IX Coordinator at a large state institution where she oversaw more than 2,000 Title IX and other campus investigations a year. The content of this episode comes from a recent ICS Community Partner meeting, where Betsy presented some of the work she is doing to ensure that the campus and the community at large are up to date about what her office does to encourage reporting, educate about Title IX, and the resources that her office provides. Betsy brings a wealth of passion and innovation to this conversation and some valuable on-the-ground experience too. Tune in to learn about the relationship between visibility, reporting, and prevention, as well as how to leverage social media, the importance of practicing your “elevator speech,” and more!

 

Key Points From This Episode:

• What it means to be a Community Partner at ICS and what’s new in 2023.
• Why it’s important for the Title IX Coordinator to be visible, starting with increased reporting.
• The correlation between reporting, data, understanding, and prevention.
• How to increase visibility by acting like a business.
• Why Betsy recommends leveraging social media to encourage reporting.
• The importance of having a Title IX “elevator speech” and leading with support.
• Tips for making yourself known to the community as a Title IX Coordinator.
• What Betsy calls Team 9 and the branding component of making that team visible.
• The value of presenting as vulnerable and approachable on social media.
• How you can access the free ICS website checklist resource.
• Using the concept of a billboard to help you think about visibility and presence on campus.
• How to ensure that your personality shines through in the data to drive prevention.
• Advice for developing the infrastructure to be able to handle increased reporting.
• The role that directed training and education play in fueling prevention.

 

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Betsy Smith on LinkedIn

Title IX at The University of Southern Mississippi (USM)

USM Title IX Office on Twitter

USM Title IX Office on Instagram

ICS Lawyer

Higher Ed Community Access

K-12 Community Access

Higher Ed Virtual Certified IX Training

K-12 Virtual Certified Title IX Training

ICS Blog

Courtney Bullard on Twitter 

Courtney Bullard Email