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Title IX office remains operational during COVID-19 pandemic

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While many offices and departments on campus have shut down or modified their hours of operation because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Title IX office has been deemed “essential” and remains open.

“I know we are all stressed out at the moment,” said Fanak Baarmand, Florida Tech’s Title IX coordinator and risk and compliance manager. “I want to make sure that students know they can call, email or come to my office whenever they need my assistance.”

Baarmand said that her focus lately has been to provide accommodation for complainants and respondents during these “concerning times regarding COVID-19.” She also emphasized that her schedule is flexible, and she is here to help students in any way that she can. 

According to Baarmand, Florida Tech’s Title IX office hearing process remains the same with some added precautions being taken to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus. Baarmand mentioned a hearing that occurred at the end of March, noting that certain precautions were taken to follow the Center for Disease Control guidelines such as only having five people in a room, holding the hearing in a larger conference room and remaining six feet apart from one another. Baarmand added that typically there are no more than seven to eight individuals involved in the hearing process. 

“The health and safety of students, employees and our hearing officer is our priority,” Baarmand said. “I will do my best not to delay cases, and I want to make sure that students know that the Title IX office remains open for business and is fully operational.” 

Nashaita Patrawalla, a graduate student in biomedical engineering and treasurer and outreach coordinator for It’s On Us — a student organization that aims to raise awareness for sexual assault on college campuses— said that she believes Florida Tech’s Title IX office is doing everything it can to help students during these difficult times. 

“Certain operations on campus are still providing resources in light of changes and still functioning,” Patrawalla said.

Kristina Larsen, an attorney based in California and advocate for those harassed in the workplace, said she believes that COVID-19 will lead to a slow down of the Title IX process.

“The pandemic has slowed down everything in life though,” Larsen said. “In theory, this [COVID-19] should not affect student complaints or investigations, but I think it is inevitable.”

Larsen added that despite the potential slow-down, there are bigger systemic issues that Title IX offices face nationwide such as under-staffing. 

While Florida Tech’s Title IX office remains operational, Patrawalla added that It’s On Us is also working hard to educate students about sexual assault on campus.

With April being sexual assault awareness month, Patrawalla said that It’s on Us had originally organized a week full of events and activities. However, due to changes on campus because of the coronavirus, the organization has since had to cancel and modify the activities that they had planned. 

The “wear teal campaign” is aimed to raise awareness by encouraging others to wear teal and take a stand against sexual assault. Patrawalla said that the Florida Tech It’s On Us chapter plans on hosting their wear teal campaign on April 30, and encourages students to share their participation by posting pictures of them wearing teal on Instagram and tagging Florida Tech’s It’s on Us account, @itsonusatfloridatech.  

Another effort being made by It’s On Us is during sexual assault awareness month is the promotion a pledge. The pledge asks students to be dedicated to helping create a culture of consent, bystander intervention and survivor support.

Click here to view the pledge.

New findings and changes as a result of Clery investigation

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In light of the recent reporting on Clery Act violations at Florida Tech, updates have been made campuswide, and requests regarding local law enforcement records have been received. 

Records requests

Records obtained from Brevard County Sheriff’s Office show that Florida Tech has not requested Clery crime statistics from this law agency since at least September 2018. 

The Clery Act requires federally funded campuses to gather information from local law enforcement when compiling data for the annual security report.

According to Florida Tech’s 2019 Annual Security and Fire Safety reports, the university works “directly with various departments at Florida Tech as well as the Melbourne and Palm Bay Police Departments and the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office to collect all of this information.”

BCSO stated that their information requests only include one fiscal year; hence, records could not be obtained to see if Florida Tech made requests for Clery crime statistics to BCSO in 2016 and 2017.

“Moving forward, all of the local agencies, county agencies, state agencies and federal agencies that might have any jurisdiction or fall within any of our Clery geography will be contacted appropriately,” said Frank Iannone, director of security at Florida Tech. 

External consultant

Another update regarding the on-going Clery Act investigation is the selection of an external consultant. According to Patrick Healy, general counsel at Florida Tech, the law firm Husch Blackwell has been appointed as the external consultant. It is expected that their review will be completed within no more than 90 days, according to Michael Grieves, Florida Tech’s executive director.

President T. Dwayne McCay told The Crimson in December that the purpose for the external consultant will be to provide expertise and clarity. 

Husch Blackwell will also be responsible for re-examining the internal review of crime statistics conducted by Iannone. McCay emphasized that the external consultant will also add external validity to the process.

Title IX
Fanak Baarmand was announced as the new title IX coordinator on Jan. 13. 

Baarmand was appointed when the previous Title IX coordinator, Linda Jancheson, was removed from the position.

“The Crimson Clery articles raised our awareness of the fact that the university may not have demonstrated the appropriate empathy for some of the students who sought assistance with Title IX issues,” Healy said.

Healy, whom Baarmand reports to, said that someone in the position of Title IX coordinator should be capable of managing conflict and have a working knowledge of Title IX as well as some familiarity with Clery, the Violence Against Women Act and other areas of discrimination law.

“I am confident that Fanak has the requisite knowledge and demeanor to be an excellent Title IX coordinator,” Healy said. 

According to Healy, over the past 30 days, Baarmand has completed the online Title IX coordinator training course offered through the National Association of College and University Attorneys. He said she has also completed the Title IX coordinator and administrator level one training and certification course offered through the Association of Title IX Administrators.

“We anticipate that in the coming months, Florida Tech’s Title IX training and procedures will be significantly strengthened under Fanak’s leadership,” Healy said. 

Since starting her position as Title IX coordinator, Baarmand has aided at least one student who said she was sexually assaulted in 2017.

The sexual assault victim stated that she had a class with her assailant this semester and “was panicked” when she saw him on the first day of classes.

“I went to my professor and asked what to do, and they told me to go to the Title IX coordinator,” she said.

Shortly after going to Baarmand, her assailant was removed from the class, and a no-contact order was put into place.

“She was super helpful and made sure I got what I needed,” the sexual assault victim said. 

Crime logs

Another change that has been implemented since the Clery investigation is the process of obtaining crime logs from the department of security. 

Previously, crime logs were sent daily to The Crimson via email and were accessible if requested. As of January, Security has implemented a new process that requires students to come into the security office to view the crime logs. Authorized security staff supervises the viewings of the crime logs. Students are also not allowed to take videos or pictures of the logs, although they may take notes.

Grieves said that he was the one responsible for the change in the crime log policy.

“Could I basically say to you that in the past, we had 60-day crime logs that were up-to-date and viewable? I can’t say that,” Grieves said.

Grieves added that he can now confidently say that with the new policy that Iannone has implemented, crime logs are up-to-date and available for inspection to comply with the Clery Act. 

Florida Tech at risk for nearly $9.8 million fine for under-reporting and over-reporting crimes

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By Olivia McKelvey, Kevin Boodoosingh and Emily Walker 

McCay released a statement to the Florida Tech community on Jan. 13 announcing that a review of the 2019 Annual Security Fire and Safety Reports found 53 cases of under-reporting and 115 cases of over-reporting. In total, there were 168 cases found that were misrepresented in the report. This could lead to a fine of roughly $9.8 million dollars.

Clery law states that each instance of misrepresented data—whether that be under-reporting or over-reporting—may result in a fine of $58,328 to the university by the U.S. Department of Education. Florida Tech is a federally funded university, making it covered by Clery law and requiring it to release an annual report each year with campus crime statistics.

The previous fine was $57,317 per incident; on Jan. 14, the Department of Education released a notice that the fine has increased to $58,328 due to inflation.

According to S. Daniel Carter, the president of Safety Advisors for Education Campuses, LLC, who worked with the Department of Education as a key individual in writing federal regulations for the Clery Act, an incident of over-reporting is a misrepresentation of data and can result in the same $58,328 fine as an incident of under-reporting. He went on to say that fines are easier to avoid in cases of over-reporting than with cases of under-reporting.

“It is unlikely that the Education Department would impose the maximum fine,” Carter stated in an email. “While under-reporting is generally viewed as more serious, as a technical matter an error, over or under, constitutes exactly the same violation.”

According to McCay’s statement, eight of the underreported cases were reports of rape. McCay stated in his email that “it is important to note that the incidents of reported rape themselves were each taken very seriously and treated appropriately.”

All 115 cases of over-reporting were in the category of liquor law violations.

In addition to the misrepresented data, McCay announced that two employees have departed from the university since the review; one was fired and the other has resigned.

The university did not provide the names of the employees who were fired and resigned. In an email, Wes Sumner, the vice president of marketing and communications, stated, “Florida Tech declines to discuss the details of individual personnel actions.”

Linda Jancheson was removed from the position of Title IX coordinator, which she held since February of 2018, but still holds the position of employee relations manager in Human Resources.

The Title IX coordinator position has been filled by Fanak Baarmand. Baarmand is also the risk and compliance manager.

Linda’s reassignment was announced in an email sent to the campus community from Patrick Healy, Florida Tech’s general council.

“All incidents or complaints concerning Title IX policy violations should be referred to [Baarmand],” Healy stated in an email.

McCay and Frank Iannone, the director of security, stated that they plan to request to reopen Florida Tech’s crime statistics on the Department of Education’s website. They will re-enter the corrected data and include a disclaimer explaining why corrections were made.

A new 2019 Annual Security Fire and Safety Reports was posted to Florida Tech’s website in conjunction with McCay’s statement.

In an email to The Crimson, Sumner stated, “The updated crime statistics now posted to the Florida Tech website accurately reflect the results of the university’s internal review of reported incidents and are in keeping with the university’s assessment of Clery Act classification guidelines.”

Florida Tech will partner with an outside consultant in the coming months to further review the crime statistics and “gain additional input regarding process improvement,” McCay stated.

“The result of that outside review will be shared when complete,” Sumner stated.

If you have made a report to Security, Title IX or local law enforcement and feel it has not been handled correctly, visit endrapeoncampus.org/the-clery-act to file a complaint.

As a student-run newspaper, your voices are extremely important to us.

If you feel you have experienced something similar as described in this piece and would like to speak with us, please contact us at crimson@fit.edu.

National Sexual Assault Hotline 1-800-656-4673

Women’s Center Counseling 321-242-1526

National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-7233

Third potential violation found in Florida Tech’s 2019 Clery report

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By Emily Walker, Olivia McKelvey, Kevin Boodoosingh

A third potential violation of the Florida Tech 2019 Annual Fire and Safety Clery report was found in the category of stalking that occurred in 2018. This comes on the heels of two confirmed reports of rape that were not included within the Clery report. 

Within a section of the fall 2018 crime logs, a report of stalking was found. On Florida Tech’s 2019 Annual Safety and Fire Report, stalking, which falls under the Violence Against Women Act amendment, was cited as zero for the past three years.

  • Statistics from the Florida Tech 2019 Annual Fire and Safety Clery report.

The Clery Act is a federal law that requires federally funded colleges and universities in the United States to publish statistics regarding crime on and around campuses annually. Clery reports are required to cover the past three years’ worth of crime statistics and must be released every Oct. 1.

Florida Tech is federally funded, thus making it a university that is required to release an annual Clery report.

Within Clery, there is an amendment known as the Violence Against Women Act.

VAWA expands the rights to campus survivors of sexual assault and includes the crimes of domestic violence, dating violence and stalking.

Under Florida state definitions within Florida Tech’s 2019 Annual Safety and Fire Report, stalking is defined as “‘willfully, maliciously and repeatedly following, harassing or cyberstalking’ another. Stalking behaviors can consist of many things: actual physical following of a person, continuously calling or texting, emailing, leaving notes or sending letters, leaving or sending objects or ‘gifts’ … essentially, a pattern of unwanted behavior with malicious intent. Stalking involves a pattern of behavior that causes substantial emotional distress to a specific person with no legitimate purpose.”

The Clery Act requires that federally funded universities publish a public crime log disclosing any crime that occurs on campus or within patrol jurisdiction of the campus security department and that is reported to campus security.

As of February of 2019, the National Association of Clery Compliance officers and professionals stated that the U.S. Department of Education can impose $57,317 per Clery Act violation.

Frank Iannone, the director of security, declined to comment on this new finding.

It is not currently known if the Department of Education is investigating these potential violations of the Clery Act.

If you have made a report to Security or Title IX and feel it has not been handled correctly, visit endrapeoncampus.org/the-clery-act to file a complaint.

As a student-run newspaper, your voices are extremely important to us.

If you feel you have experienced something similar as described in this piece and would like to speak with us, please contact us at crimson@fit.edu.

National Sexual Assault Hotline 1-800-656-4673

Women’s Center Counseling 321-242-1526

National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-7233

Florida Tech fails to acknowledge reports of rape required under federal law

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By: Emily Walker, Olivia McKelvey, Kevin Boodoosingh

Florida Tech failed to acknowledge multiple reports of rape within the 2019 Annual Security and Fire Safety Reports under the Clery Act.




  • The Campus Crime Statistics lists zero sex offenses have occurred in the in the past three years. If there have been cases of sexual assaults that were not included in the crime statistics, then that is a violation of the Clery Act. 

Two students have come forward with accounts of rape and how they reported their cases through Title IX and Security.

Their cases did not appear on the Annual Security and Fire Safety Reports, which is in violation of the Clery Act.

What is the Clery Act:

In 1986, Jeanne Clery, a student at Lehigh University, was raped and murdered in her residence hall.

Four years later, the Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act of 1990 was established in order to create accountability for reporting violent crimes and providing transparency on campus crime statistics.

The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act—the Clery Act— is a federal law requiring United States colleges and universities to disclose information about crime on and around campuses.

Due to the fact that Florida Tech receives federal funding, it is required to publish an annual security report for both students and employees every Oct. 1.

What is included within the Clery report:

Florida Tech’s Office of Safety and Security prepares an annual report in cooperation with local law enforcement agencies such as Melbourne Police Department, Palm Bay Police Department and the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office.

Other university departments also work in collaboration with compiling crime reports and statistics such as the Title IX office.

The report is required to include data from the past three years on the following crimes:

  • Criminal homicides such as murder and non-negligent manslaughter and negligent manslaughter
  • Sex offenses such as rape, fondling, incest and statutory rape
  • Arrests and judicial referrals for liquor law violations, drug abuse violations and weapons law violations
  • The “other” category, which includes robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, motor vehicle theft and arson
  • The Violence Against Women’s Act—VAWA—is an amendment within Clery that expands the rights to campus survivors of sexual assault and includes the following crimes:
    • domestic violence
    • dating violence
    • stalking
  • Hate crimes, which include offense definitions relating to hate/bias-related crime, larceny, simple assault, intimidation and destruction/damage/vandalism of property

Clery cites that the following individuals on campus are Campus Security Authorities—also known as mandated reporters— a term created by the Clery Act that encompasses groups of individuals and organizations at Florida Tech:

  • Dean of Students
  • Director of Security
  • Security Department
  • Title IX Coordinator
  • Senior Vice President for Academic Administration
  • Chief of Staff
  • Athletics Director
  • Athletic Coaches
  • Office of Student Life
  • Director of Student Housing
  • Other Campus Security Authorities that have a “significant responsibility for student and campus activities.”

Clery geography:

Another factor Clery examines when categorizing data is geographical location of a specific crime.

Clery includes both on-campus and non-campus locations within the report.

An on-campus location is defined as any building or property owned or controlled by an institution, such as an academic building or dorm.

Non-campus geographic location can refer to any Florida Tech owned entity that is frequented by students.

The non-campus definition also includes campus leased or rented spaces for an event that was sponsored by the university or any building or property owned or controlled by a student organization that is officially recognized by the institution.

How Florida Tech violated the Clery Act:

In the 2019 Annual Security and Fire Safety Reports, all sex offenses, including rape, were cited as zero for the past three years.

According to definition in Florida Tech’s 2019 Annual Safety and Fire Report, rape is defined as “the penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.”

An anonymous student has gone on record and said that her rape, which occurred in 2018 on campus, was not included in the Clery report.

“I went into the Title IX office because I wanted this put down on record,” she said. “I wanted them to know that women are being assaulted and raped on this campus.” 

The student went to the health center and Counseling and Psychological Services, neither of which are mandated reporters.

She later went to Linda Jancheson, the Title IX coordinator, who reports to, as listed in Florida Tech’s organizational chart, VP/General Counsel.

“I spent 20 minutes waiting in the Title IX office, five minutes in Jancheson’s office and I left with three extra papers that I didn’t know what the hell meant,” the student said.

The student later talked to another Campus Security Authority and discussed her options with Security.

She ultimately decided not to take action against her rapist and no charges were filed in this case. 

Despite the student not taking action, according to Frank Iannone, director of security, whether or not a victim decides to pursue charges, a report is made regardless of the outcome.

When asked how many cases of rape have been reported to Jancheson for the past three years, she said, “I do not know the exact numbers.”

When asked how many Title IX reports Jancheson handed over to Security to include within this year’s Clery report, she said, “I do not know.”

The Title IX coordinator was asked these same questions two times, in two separate interviews, and responded with “I do not know,” in each instance.

Jancheson went on to say that she was not in the Title IX coordinator position when reports were made last year in 2018, though her start date was February of 2018.

Another anonymous source was raped in 2017 on campus and reported her rape to Security in 2018.

The student went through an investigation and disciplinary hearing, which took over one year and resulted in disciplinary action for her rapist. 

This student’s rape was also not included within this year’s Clery data. 

“Sitting down with two security officers not once, but twice to relive the details of my rape in depth and on record was anything but a warm environment as a victim,” she said. 

After her initial report, the student heard nothing for five months regarding the investigation and the scheduling of the disciplinary hearing.

“It was the worst experience of my life,” she said. “The process of reporting it was nearly as bad as my actual rape.”

It is not immediately known whether or not campus security filed these two reports of rape with local law enforcement.

Both sources will remain anonymous. The Crimson does not disclose the names of sexual assault survivors.

Repercussions for violating Clery:

According to a press release from the National Association of Clery Compliance officers and professionals, as of February 2019, the new amount that the U.S. Department of Education can impose for noncompliance with the Clery Act is $57,317 per violation. 

In 2016, Penn State was fined 2.4 million dollars for having been “out of compliance” for 11 serious cases dating from 1998 to 2011.

In 2018, the University of Montana was fined $966,614 for “inaccurate and misleading crime statistics” from liquior law violations to cases of rape between 2012 and 2015. 

Two anonymous students at Florida Tech have come forward to discuss their rapes in 2017 and 2018 and how they reported it to Security.

Those cases have not been cited within this year’s Clery report. 

Iannone said that from the statistics that are provided within this year’s Clery report, he feels the numbers accurately represent the campus.

If you have made a report to Security or Title IX and feel it has not been handled correctly, visit endrapeoncampus.org/the-clery-act to file a complaint.

As a student-run newspaper, your voices are extremely important to us.

If you feel you have experienced something similar as described in this piece and would like to speak with us, please contact us at crimson@fit.edu.

National Sexual Assault Hotline -1-800-656-4673
Women’s Center Counseling 321-242-1526

Women’s golf team drops Title IX complaint

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Florida Tech’s women’s golf team will not be filing a Title IX report after speaking with athletic administration.

With the discontinuation of the women’s golf team but not the men’s team, the women’s team considered filing a Title IX complaint, as Title IX has certain standards that require universities to provide men and women with equal athletic opportunities.

However, they found out the number of men’s and women’s teams met Title IX’s standards and decided to drop the case, according to Alexis

Dizinno, a freshman in environmental science and a member of the women’s golf team. Dizinno said the team wasn’t given a reason as to why they were being discontinued and not the men’s team, even after their discussion with athletic administration.

“When we found out that the women’s team was being cut and not the men’s team, we questioned how that was allowed, and we asked around,” Dizinno said. “I think in the end, one of the athletic administration people had told us that that was the case and that it was legal, so we haven’t done anything to file a complaint so far. I don’t think it is possible.”

Chris Saltmarsh, the women’s golf team coach, was emailed and called for comment but did not respond to the request.

According to Daniel Supraner, the director of athletic communications, the discontinuation of tennis and women’s golf has left athletics with nine men’s teams and nine women’s teams.

“With Title IX, they want what you’re giving to men’s and women’s teams to reflect the number of the student body,” Supraner said. “Title IX requires that we match that proportionality.”

Bill Jurgens, Florida Tech’s athletic director, said the decision to cancel women’s golf was based on the current and future success of the program.

When making the decision to cut the women’s golf team, Jurgens said they considered who was currently on the team and who would be on it in the future.

“A number of [the current] athletes will be graduating,” Jurgens said. “It will be very difficult to replace them with the ones we have right now.”

Facilities, the present size of the teams and the number of athletes that would be affected were some of the main components considered when deciding what sports to cut, according to Jurgens.

Jurgens said Athletics decided to cut programs because Florida Tech has a larger athletic program than similar sized universities.

“It was an operational decision to try to downsize our athletic programs to be more compatible with the size of the university that we have,” Jurgens said. “That was pretty much something that the university set in place that they felt was important for us to continue to be competitive in our sports program.”

Before the discontinuation of tennis and women’s golf, Florida Tech had 23 varsity teams including the dance team.

In the Sunshine State Conference, seven out of the ten universities have fewer teams.

According to Dizinno, the discontinuation of the women’s golf team came as a surprise to them.

Dizinno said the women’s golf team was called into a meeting with the athletic department a couple of hours before the announcement of their discontinuation was sent out to all of campus.

Prior to the meeting, there had been no warning of discontinuing the team.

“It was super upsetting, especially for me as a freshman,” Dizinno said. “We just recently found out that they’ve been thinking about cutting the team for two years. There are two freshmen and two sophomores on the team who had not been warned about this and had no idea that this was happening, and we just felt neglected and overlooked.”

Dizinno said the athletes on the golf team with scholarships will get to keep their scholarships.

“They stopped giving scholarships two years ago, so this freshman class is the first one without scholarships even though they cancelled them a couple years back,” Dizinno said.

While some team members such as Dizinno are planning to transfer universities due to the team’s discontinuation, the women’s golf team has been told they can play with the men’s golf team.