Title IX’s Revolving Door Opens
Paige Meyer-Draffen | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
April 09, 2026
This past May, after five years of revolving doors and interim personnel, Whittier College announced Vanessa Gonzalez as the new Clery and Title IX Coordinator.
Gonzalez has been a part of the Whittier College community for four years, starting with her leadership role at the Department of Campus Safety in the spring of 2021.
Gonzalez worked with the previous Clery Coordinator as Corporal of Safety and Compliance and grew familiar with the policies and procedures through administrative work and first-responder experience.
She also found herself working closely with John LeJay II, who stepped down from his role as Associate Dean of Title IX and Bias in October of 2024. During this time, Gonzalez processed Title IX and Clery incidents that Campus Safety responded to.
Students, faculty and staff are hopeful Gonzalez will bring some stability to a critical campus role.
Take, for example, the multiple students living in a campus dorm in November 2024 who filed a Title IX case against a fellow resident. Full disclosure: as their resident advisor, I was caught in the crossfire and supported them by taking them to the Title IX office and the police station.
At the time, the case was being overseen by the Title IX coordinator, who was not available in person and could only be reached via email or Zoom.
Administrative support came in the form of staff in the Dean of Students’ Office, such as Conduct and Residential Life, but there was no Title IX and Clery Coordinator on campus to talk with.
There is now.
A Title IX case starts with a complainant filing a case against a respondent. The complainant can then decide if they want to pursue a formal or informal case, meaning a full investigation can be pursued—which can take months—or the complainant can resolve the case through a structured interaction with the respondent.
Briefly, a Formal Grievance Complaint, or formal investigation, involves testimonies, witnesses, cross-examinations and a final hearing with a decision-maker.
The Whittier College website describes more than 30 phases of the investigation process in detail.
Over the last four years, students have seen the Title IX Coordinator role change hands four times.
Administrative roles change regularly, but a position that is central to emotionally weighted problems, such as sexual assault and discrimination, can make or break a student’s undergraduate experience.
Students may remember LeJay, who stepped down from his role as Associate Dean of Title IX and Bias in October of 2024.
Before LeJay, Lafayette Baker served as the Title IX Coordinator in the Dean of Students’ Office under then-Vice President Deanna Merino-Contino, now Associate Vice President of Student Life at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, from the fall of 2021 until LeJay took over.
LeJay was well-known around campus for his dedication to student life and involvement with affinity groups like the Black Student Association.
At his new institution, College of the Canyons, LeJay laments the distance between the Title IX office and the student body.
“The students are kept away, it’s all cases with no faces,” he sighed over Zoom.
Just before Merino-Contino stepped down in June 2023, the Dean of Students’ Office dedicated its efforts to increasing student awareness of the Title IX office in hopes of furthering a culture of self-advocacy on campus.
LeJay argued that a lack of resources could lead to long-term trauma if students don’t have the tools to learn how to advocate for themselves in a professional setting.
LeJay implemented structural changes aimed at demystifying the Title IX office and offering students more avenues to approach the Title IX process.
He introduced more training for faculty and staff and implemented the Bias Team for identity-based discrimination investigations.
Merino-Contino and LeJay created a network of Title IX advisors in 2022 for students to utilize, which was an important step in departmental improvements.
He is seen as instrumental in creating a campus-wide understanding of what Title IX is.
“It [did] nothing for me to be the sole person that knew about Title IX then,” LeJay laughs.
LeJay stepped down in October of 2024 after contract negotiations with the current administration did not meet his needs.
During the transitional period between LeJay’s departure and Gonzalez’s appointment, there was no designated person for students to speak with when they had Title IX concerns, sometimes leaving students with nobody and their cases feeling like they were in limbo.
“It [did] nothing for me to be the sole person that knew about Title IX then.”
Title IX Advisor is an official role described by Title IX Solutions, Whittier College’s main provider of Title IX training and consulting.
Cases are adjudicated on campus by the coordinator. An advisor serves as support, attending investigation meetings and connecting students to wellness resources.
Francisco Gomez, the Director of the Office of Inclusive Excellence, became an advisor in 2022 and continues to help students navigate the Title IX process today.
Whittier College offers a small, tight-knit community among students, faculty and staff. Many students have a rapport with a faculty member who also serves as an official Title IX advisor, and dozens more share a similar bond with staff who serve as colleagues and supervisors in Student Life departments.
One of the main issues with the frequent turnover in the coordinator’s role is the changing of priorities in how to handle ongoing cases in the Title IX office.
Dr. Mikiba Morehead was the Title IX Office’s consultant through TNG Consulting beginning in 2022 and was promoted to Interim Coordinator for the 2024–2025 academic year after LeJay’s departure.
Dr. Morehead was based in Washington, D.C., and was an asynchronous presence when handling the Title IX cases she inherited during this period.
Transitional periods can leave students searching for support through advisors or feeling unfamiliar with whichever staff members are working in the Title IX office.
Even though advisors have basic Title IX training, they do not have the authority to make decisions about an investigation and are functionally there for emotional support and advocacy.
With so much turnover in the Title IX Coordinator role, students have trouble keeping up with the central figure who actually oversees their cases.
As their residential advisor, I was in a position of trying to support the students who filed the case last November, but felt a little inadequate without being able to direct students to an on-campus Title IX Coordinator.
As my residents twisted in the wind, the College was still trying to sort out the position after LeJay’s departure.
Even with the advisor model that was put in place to help during such transitions, students sometimes felt underserved.
A student who will remain anonymous filed a formal Title IX complaint days after LeJay’s departure.
“In the beginning, it was cool to chat over Zoom [with Dr. Morehead], but even then, I felt disconnected,” the student explained.
“My frustrations go to the school because why was there no Title IX coordinator in person, as if this weren’t a college… Dealing with Title IX and the situation itself, I can truly say I’ve never felt more isolated and stupid.”
This student felt that their case was not sufficiently resolved and ended up filing a no-contact order that they say was repeatedly violated before the Dean of Students’ Office had to intervene.
Students can feel discouraged by this isolation and may abandon the investigation altogether if they do not see progress or action being taken.
Although these investigations can take months and involve tedious cross-examinations, a visible and present coordinator on campus would provide a readily accessible place to check in on the progress of cases.
Enter Vanessa Gonzalez.
Gonzalez earned her Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice in December of 2024.
Upon LeJay’s departure, she approached the Dean of Students’ administrators about filling the position. She was warned about the emotional and mental toll of handling Title IX cases.
“They did recommend me to start looking into what [the position] actually entails, because you can’t speak to anybody about cases the same way you would talk to your coworkers,” she says.
Given her prior role with Campus Safety, Gonzalez felt prepared for the weight of the position, and she is already a familiar face to students.
She was introduced as the new Title IX and Clery Coordinator to student leadership teams like the Residential Advisors when she began her new role in May of 2025.
She also finds the network of trained faculty and staff to be an indispensable support system.
The Interim Coordinator, Dr. Morehead, walked Gonzalez through the onboarding process over the summer when Gonzalez inherited active cases.
“The members [of faculty and staff] that I have interacted with have all been supportive, and there’s an aspect that they don’t question me or make me feel like I don’t know what I’m doing,” says Gonzalez.
This past August, Conduct Coordinator Christina Nevaja departed, leaving the role to be handled by the Dean of Students’ Office.
Students have been watching turnover in these sensitive roles, especially figures who built strong connections with the community on campus.
The same is to say, more stability is being welcomed.
“It’s hard when there’s a lot of transitions, especially in higher roles,” Gonzalez says.
Because coordinators work closely with advisors and other offices, they inherit highly confidential information. The transfer of this sensitive knowledge, limited to only a few staff members, caused friction during previous handovers.
So far, the transition into the role has been smooth for Gonzalez, and she has been making efforts toward participating in Student Life events like Denim Day in the spring.
Having someone on campus in a permanent role, at least for now, presents an opportunity to build stronger relationships between students and the Title IX office.
Students can reach out to titleIX@whittier.edu.