Sarah Hellyar, Quinnipiac University’s interim Title IX coordinator, on Tuesday became the second acting Title IX official and sixth diversity official to leave the university in just over a year.

In a Jan. 23 email to the Quinnipiac community, David Fryson, interim vice president of inclusive excellence, said Hellyar had left Quinnipiac “for another professional opportunity.” 

Brittany Swett, a Title IX professional from Aleta Law, will serve as the interim coordinator as the university conducts a national search for a permanent replacement. 

“We are grateful for Sarah’s service to QU,” Fryson wrote. “She provided professional guidance and coverage related to our many policies and practices while also elevating the importance and visibility of Title IX on our campus.”

Hellyar, who Quinnipiac hired as a Title IX investigator in October 2021, was appointed interim coordinator last January following the similarly abrupt departure of her predecessor, Dennis Kwarteng. Their departures are part of a larger pattern of turnover within the university’s diversity ranks. 

Fryson said Tuesday that the university is “conducting a national search for the permanent Title IX coordinator.” However, as of early Wednesday afternoon, there is no active listing for the position on Quinnipiac’s job openings page.

Swett’s LinkedIn profile indicates that she worked as a Title IX investigator and prevention specialist at the University of New England before taking a position at Bernstein Shur, Maine’s largest law firm, in 2021. 

The Maine-based lawyer has an “extensive background in conducting Title IX, civil rights compliance, and workplace investigations,” according to her Aleta Law profile page.