Discussion List for campus-based and allied personnel working to end gender-based violence on campus.

Colleagues,

 

I hope you can spread the word on an important project, and help us to find two student interns to work on it this fall. 

 

As many of you recall, Kristin Lombardi wrote an important article series for the Center for Public Integrity on campus sexual misconduct.  As part of her research, she made FOIA requests for 201 OCR investigation findings of Title IX sexual harassment complaints against colleges and universities.  When she completed the project, Kristin gave all of those letters to NCHERM so that we could create an online, publicly accessible, searchable database for them. 

 

We've been working diligently to weave the 1,600 individual pages into .pdfs that are campus-specific.  We are finally done with that stage, and now we need to index each finding letter so that we can create the searchable database.  We need two interns who will evaluate all 201 findings, and help to create indexes of the topics they contain.  Once we have that done, we can post all 201 letters online so that anyone can use them to research Title IX OCR sexual harassment findings.  The only other way to get this information is make FOIA requests, as Kristin did. 

 

Hopefully, this resource will be a useful tool for all schools and colleges.  For example, I informed a dean recently of a Title IX requirement to share with a student victim the outcome of her sexual harassment grievance against a professor.  He responded that state law made employee records confidential.  I shared with him one of these OCR letters indicating clearly that Title IX complainants are entitled to know the outcomes of their complaints, even against employees, regardless of state law.  He responded, "well, how are we supposed to know that if these letters aren't published."  And, he's right.  There is a complex set of expectations laid out by these letters that is rich and detailed, but so far we only learn from it campus-by-campus.  This project will allow us to aggregate and disseminate a body of knowledge that our field needs to have. 

 

Please contact Samantha Dutill at NCHERM for more details on the internships. 

 

Regards,
Brett A. Sokolow
Brett A. Sokolow, J.D.
Attorney-At-Law


"Best Practices for Campus Health and Safety"

The National Center for Higher
Education Risk Management, Ltd.
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Brett Blogs! at www.ncherm.org

2009-2010 President, The National Behavioral Intervention Team Association (www.nabita.org)

NCHERM serves as counsel/advisor to 12 campuses, including:

Special Counsel to the Dean of Students, Dominican University (IL)
Special Counsel for Student Conduct Issues, Warren Wilson College
Special Advisor to the University of Texas, San Antonio
Special Counsel, Concordia University (TX)
Special Counsel, Northern Virginia Community College
Special Counsel, Southwestern Michigan College
Special Counsel, the Community College of Allegheny County
Special Advisor, Vassar College
Special Advisor, Henry Ford Community College