The biggest change to the federal Title IX program this year is the addition of the Stop Campus Hazing Act, which went into effect Jan. 1. On Tuesday, Cheryl Brown, Title IX Coordinator at Barton Community College, explained the changes to the college’s board of trustees.

Hazing has been illegal in Kansas since 2010, Brown noted. (It is a class B nonperson misdemeanor.) This act requires institutes of higher education that participate in federal student aid programs to report hazing incidents. Incidents will be included in the Annual Security Report in 2026.

The college must also create a Campus Hazing Transparency Report and staff will undergo some training.

Kansas defines hazing as “recklessly coercing, demanding or encouraging another person to perform, as a condition of membership in a social or fraternal organization, any act which could reasonably be expected to result in great bodily harm, disfigurement or death, or which is done in a manner whereby great bodily harm, disfigurement or death could be inflicted.”

“This new act seems to broaden the definition of hazing,” Brown said.

Vice President of Student Services Angie Maddy agreed. “For this law, they’re expanding the definition quite a lot.”

The act states hazing includes acts done by a person individually or in concert with others in the course of an initiation into a student organization “whether the organization is established or recognized by the institution or not.”

That means a group not recognized as a student organization could be guilty of hazing. Brown gave a hypothetical example of a few people in student housing calling themselves the “Third Floor Mafia” and intimidating other students.

How the new rules are interpreted is yet to be seen.

“There’s a lot we don’t know yet,” Brown said.

Barton President Dr. Marcus Garstecki added, “There’s not much clarity to it.”

Brown concluded her presentation with what is known at this time:

• Title IX, enacted by Congress, is in effect and cannot be overturned by an Executive Order.

• 2020 Regulations are in effect.

• All case law is in effect. Legal cases are making their way through the courts.

• The Office of Civil Rights in Kansas City remains open.

Executive session and more

In action items, the board approved its meeting schedule for the 2025-2026 year. It continues the tradition of scheduling study sessions on the second Tuesday of the month and regular board meetings on the fourth Tuesday for most months.

The board met in executive session as allowed by the Kansas Open Meetings Act “to discuss financial affairs of a partnership pursuant to data relating to financial affairs or trade secrets of corporations, partnerships, trusts, and individual proprietorships, in order to protect the privacy interests of the entities(s) to be discussed.” The meeting was set for 40 minutes, with Dr. Garstecki included in the discussion. Board Chairman Mike Johnson said no action would be taken after that. This was similar to the February meeting, when executive sessions for the same stated reason lasted for 60 minutes. Vice President of Administration Mark Dean joined the February discussion but was absent this month.