In a email to California Lutheran University students, faculty and staff, sent in May, Melinda Roper, vice president for Student Affairs and dean of Students announced that the university had named a new Title IX Coordinator.

The email explained U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’ Title IX revisions and announced who would be taking over former Title IX Coordinator Jim McHugh’s position, effective May 12, 2020. 

The new Title IX Coordinator is Angela Naginey, Deputy Registrar of Academic Services. Naginey started her career at Cal Lutheran in 1997 in Student Affairs.

The email said Naginey is responsible for the “coordination and implementation” of Cal Lutheran’s Title IX “compliance efforts to foster a community that is free from sexual discrimination and harassment.”

In a Zoom interview, Naginey said she wasn’t sure how she was selected for the position. 

“I’m not sure how [the university] went about it. I can tell you that at the end, I was asked if I would take on this role by my supervisor and I consented,” Naginey said.

Naginey also said her new role as Title IX Coordinator is important to her. 

“I do have a passion for that area [Title IX]. And how it mainly plays out is my passion for student success and for student retention. And so, any of those areas that are gonna touch the student experience,” Naginey said.

In an email statement, Deputy Title IX Coordinator Chris Paul said she was not involved with the hiring of the new coordinator, “I was informed after she accepted the role.”

The month before Naginey was named the new Title IX coordinator, Faculty Senate provided recommendations to administrators which detailed an action plan for amending Title IX procedures on campus. The recommendations were based on a number of concerns regarding how the federal policy was being implemented and handled at Cal Lutheran. 

“There are two alarming and systemic problems relating to Title IX compliance: 1) under-reporting of sexual assault/misconduct on campus, particularly among first-year students and those who identify as LGBTQ; and 2) the potential conflicts of interest that arise in the investigation and/or adjudication of cases,” Faculty Senate wrote in the recommendations. 

Julia Fogg, professor of Religion and Faculty Senate chair, said Naginey “is amazing.”

“I think she has a lot of duties and that Title IX, director of Title IX is also quite a big responsibility,” Fogg said. “I think faculty who are concerned, or who were in May … [their concerns] would not have been addressed by keeping [the Title IX coordinator position] as an internal procedure, directed by someone who already has a broad range of responsibilities.”

Aaron Heresco, associate professor of Communication, is also a member of the Faculty Senate. Conversations about changes needing to be made to Title IX on campus had been ongoing and they had come up during a recent Black Student Union meeting during the racial tension that impacted the Cal Lutheran community, Heresco said in a Zoom interview.

“The College of Arts and Sciences, the college counsel, had worked with the [faculty] senate on creating a draft of suggested changes for the Title IX process in order to more carefully protect students and ensure that the people involved in the process could do the best job available,” Heresco said.

Faculty Senate did receive a response from some administrative officers, Heresco said.

“We were assured by members of the administration that they were taking into consideration that they were aware of some issues with the Title IX processes,” Heresco said. “The members of administration that responded to us were grateful.”

Further Reading

Reporting Processes, Title IX at Cal Lutheran: Three Women's Stories

Changes Need to be Made to Cal Lutheran's Title IX Process

Q & A with Cal Lutheran’s Title IX Coordinators

Professors study Title IX and contribute to #MeTooPoliSci research