Hope this finds you in high spirits CWU,

As we all get reimmersed into our academic sphere, we are given opportunities to learn and gain insight about ourselves by witnessing the perspectives of others.

Last November, employees of the Learning Commons came forward as sources about a case they were involved in alleging gender and sex discrimination, sexism and religious discrimination in the workplace. I listened to them and felt their discomfort as they shared intimate details of their lives. The Respondent of the case replied to my emails for the first time the night before publication, and we are corresponding with him about a potential follow-up interview to potentially mitigate one-sidedness in the story.

The Observer made three public records requests to obtain this case; the most recent of the requests was sent last week and is projected to be fulfilled by the end of the month. We were provided a copy of the case from an anonymous witness in December, and have chosen to publish the story based on this copy to ensure that the information is shared in as timely a fashion as possible. 

As the dust settles in the wake of this two-month-long story writing process, I feel a lot of weight knowing that I am the mouthpiece for many marginalized community members who share diagnoses with me. I also feel a lot of weight knowing Odd no longer works on campus and realizing how this story could affect his life. Our actions and words impact others in ways that matter, and this case is evidence of that. More complainants have come forward about other Title IX cases, and look forward to deep diving into it all. I hope our readers will join us for the ride that is and has been our “Title Wave” series.