BATON ROUGE – LSU Title IX failures have become a major topic at the legislature. Bills to fix gaps in policies briskly moved forward at the Capitol Wednesday morning. Lawmakers are looking to add more oversight to make sure victims’ voices are being heard.

“We’ve got to put value on the security of our students and this is the effort you see in place,” said Sen. Beth Mizell.

Sen. Mizell and Sen. Regina Barrow presented legislation to the Senate Committee on Education that further define Title IX policies. Both are members of the Senate Select Committee on Women and Children. For the past month they’ve held special meetings to hear from from sexual assault victims and LSU leaders on why policies weren’t being followed.

That’s what the legislation addressed.

“It wasn’t clear about where to report, who to report to all that has been clearly identified. In addition to that, my bill is the creation of a review panel that will go back quarterly to make sure everything is being done in compliance with the law. If we notice something that is out of place or that is not working then we can address it immediately,” said Sen. Barrow.

Both bills will move on to be discussed on the Senate floor. There was no opposition among other lawmakers, or with LSU Interim President Tom Galligan.

“The legislation is really really important. It is going to close some gaps that all of higher ed have had in the law, and it's going to make our campus safer. We wouldn't exist without our students, we know that and were here to teach them, and in order to teach them they have to be safe,” said Galligan.

“That was to me a very strong showing to have LSU here especially since the report was regarding them, but it's not just about LSU,” said Sen. Barrow.
The lawmakers' goal is to ensure that when a student steps on any campus in Louisiana, protocols will be in place to keep them safe.