At the beginning of the whirlwind of days leading up to the 2024-25 school year at Sarah Lawrence College, first-year students crowded into a newly-familiar Barbara Walters Campus Center for their first foray into orientation week: Title IX training. Via a dense Powerpoint presentation given by Kristin Collado, Sarah Lawrence’s Title IX coordinator, freshmen were inundated with everything they need to know about Title IX—including the role of mandated reporters, definitions of sexual harassment, misconduct and discrimination, and student’s rights under Title IX. Similar presentations are administered to mandated reporters—which include faculty and staff, as well as student leaders like Residential Advisors (RAs) and Gryphon Guides. 

On Oct. 2, Hill House residents received an email from Dave Stanfield, the Vice President and Dean of Students at Sarah Lawrence College, about the fate of the Free Speech Board—two pieces of plywood stacked atop each other and cemented to the ground by two metal pipes, perched atop the narrow hill beside the back entrance of Hill House. Reactions to this email were mixed. Some felt relieved, others were angry and a few were confused, unaware that this had even been in discussion.