Debbie Owens Talks Title IX and Civil Rights Compliance On the Hill

Photo provided courtesy of Hamilton College Website

At the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year, Hamilton College welcomed a new Director of Title IX and Civil Rights Compliance: Debbie Owens. Owens, who began working with Title IX compliance before an official position was created or legally required on a state level, has been working in Title IX coordination for the past two decades. Now, she is one of the many Title IX coordinators across the country.

The role Owens is expected to fill is expansive. Within her role of ensuring compliance in Title IX and civil rights areas, she must ensure that various state and federal regulations are not only met by the school but also reported to both levels of government. Often, she must pay extra attention to the compliance of specific areas, such as athletics. This year, Owens made a change to the procedure regarding sports teams: now, she meets with each team individually to review required training, as she believed individuals would be more comfortable and receptive to discussion with their teammates rather than with all of the school’s athletes.

Athletes are not the only ones required to have training sessions. Specific training is required for student organization leaders, orientation leaders, and community advisors, but every Hamilton student and staff member must engage in some level of prevention education. In ensuring compliance with the national and state-wide regulations, employees must participate in training regarding being a responsible employee, including how and when to report to Owens.

Students are more widely familiar with the virtual training required at the beginning of the year. Topics like alcohol, sexual assault prevention, and diversity, equity, and belonging were required at the beginning of this school year. While online training can be tedious and may not grab everyone’s full attention, Owens describes its advantage as being able to “get to everybody.”

While online vectors may reach everyone, Owens has attempted to reach the students of Hamilton in other ways. One, an event called “Sex Signals”, a mandatory improv show for freshmen about “sex and stuff”, invited a new improv group to campus called “Catharsis.” Owens spoke of the importance of bringing in outside groups, explaining that it is “not for me to always be that ‘talking head’ because I’m just one person and I’d like for [the students] to hear from folks who have experienced other things at other places, and that are closer to their age.”

The final official aspect of her job includes handling Title IX violations, specifically working with those who report them in order to address the situation. Reports can come in through an automated reporting system, phone calls, emails, walk-ins, or third-party sources such as staff members. These reports can be anonymous, in which case they will receive a list of resources and contact information. Otherwise, Owens herself will follow up and offer options.

Owen’s responsibilities are soon going to expand further. As of August 2026, the role of Title VI coordinator must be within someone’s position title at Hamilton College, according to New York state law. Title VI applies more specifically to preventing racial and ethnicity-based discrimination on campuses. Owens will be expected to take on this role, though, according to Owens, it is already encompassed in the “civil rights compliance” aspect of her title.

Yet, Owens does not believe that her responsibilities stop here. “What my philosophy behind the job is, I want to be someone that people can come to, to talk to, and get the support and resources they need,” Owens explains. “I just want people, if they are having concerns, questions, issues, or, heaven forbid, if something happened to them, to be comfortable coming into my office or meeting with me over Zoom, so I can let them know what we can do to help.”