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

[Brett Sokolow <>]

The issue is that a mutual NCO that restricts the victim can be retaliatory.  OCR stated this to me directly on several occasions.  

Regards, 

Brett A. Sokolow

Brett A. Sokolow, Esq.
Attorney-at-Law

President & CEO, The NCHERM Group LLC

Founder & Board Chair, The National Behavioral Intervention Team Association 

Executive Director, The Association of Title IX Administrators 

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From: Rina Vaishnav Rhyne <>
Date: Friday, February 5, 2016 at 10:30 AM
To: Brett Sokolow <>
Cc: "Shaffer, Jyl (shaffej2)" <>, "Torres-Zickler, Alina M." <>, "" <>
Subject: Re: Experience with No Contact Directives and Sanctions

Brett - can you send a link to where OCR has stated this? Thanks!

With mutual NCOs, I would make sure the victim knows this is standard protocol and in no way is saying she/he is at fault - how they feel about it is more important than it actual being in place.

The best thing may be to have the NCO goes one way but if the respondent in the case brings forward any sort of communication post-NCO by the complainant that is deemed harassing, then they can request a NCO towards the complainant. Also, even with no mutual NCO, you can say to the complainant that they should not be contacting the respondent.

I agree that suspending a student may just increase contact and hurt the complainant - this sanction should be used cautiously.

Thanks,

Rina

--
Rina Vaishnav Rhyne, MSW, LGSW

Program Coordinator, Voices Against Violence (VAV)

University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Phone: 410-455-3748or 410-455-2542

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On Fri, Feb 5, 2016 at 10:04 AM, Brett Sokolow <> wrote:

OCR has stated that no contact orders are to protect the victim and should not be issued mutually on an automatic basis.  If they are issued mutually, they should be tailored (skewed restrictions) so as to reduce the potential for violation by the victim.  

Regards, 

Brett A. Sokolow

Brett A. Sokolow, Esq.
Attorney-at-Law

President & CEO, The NCHERM Group LLC

Founder & Board Chair, The National Behavioral Intervention Team Association 

Executive Director, The Association of Title IX Administrators 

Publisher, Student Affairs eNews 

*PLEASE NOTE NEW MAILING ADDRESS*

1109 Lancaster Avenue

Berwyn, PA 19312

Tel. (610) 993-0229 
Fax (610) 993-0228

The NCHERM Group, LLC serves as legal counsel/advisor to 75 campuses

This e-mail message is from a law firm and may contain information that is privileged or confidential. It is not intended for transmission to, or receipt by, any unauthorized persons. If you have received this electronic mail transmission in error, do not read it. Please delete it from your system without copying it, and notify the sender by reply e-mail at  or by calling 610.993.0229, so that our address record can be corrected.

From: "Shaffer, Jyl (shaffej2)" <>
Date: Friday, February 5, 2016 at 9:57 AM
To: "Torres-Zickler, Alina M." <>, "" <>
Subject: RE: Experience with No Contact Directives and Sanctions

Alina,

 

Typically I do not issue mutual no contact orders until I’ve spoken with the alleged victim first. Just like civil protective orders, campus-based mutual no contact orders can increase the lethality of the situation, create a chilling effect for reporting/moving forward in the process, etc. I can’t say there’s not a circumstance where I wouldn’t issue one without talking to the alleged victim first, but in 5 years I haven’t done that once.

 

Also, we recognize that sometimes violations happen. We take notices of violations on a case-by-case basis and, if there wasn’t a threat/act of violence and if neither party says they were harmed by the violation, we will often issue a warning. We do tell them, though, that they only get one warning. If I have an alleged victim who is violating the order, that’s an important moment to find out if what they want the University to do has changed, if there is pressure on them, etc.

 

Also, suspension may be an unreasonable sanction for some kinds of violations, particularly since much of the violations I see happen electronically, so suspension will likely just give the person more time to make contact.

 

Hope that helps,

 

Jyl Shaffer

Title IX Coordinator

University of Cincinnati

Office: (513) 556-3349

Edwards I Suite 3115

45 Corry Blvd

Cincinnati OH 45221

www.uc.edu/titleix

Pronouns: she, her, hers

 

 

From: Torres-Zickler, Alina M. []
Sent: Friday, February 05, 2016 9:50 AM
To:
Subject: Experience with No Contact Directives and Sanctions

 

Hello all – No Contact Directives are often requested by complainants on our campus and we use them frequently without much issue (they are applied to no contact from either the accused or the complainant). Recently we have seen patterns with complainants of dating violence ( as well as other types of sexual misconduct) that because of the complicated nature of the relationship the complainant will send an email or a text message after the No Contact Directive is in place.

 

There are those on my campus that think any violation of the No Contact Directive should result in immediate suspension, even for the complainant. My argument is that by having a trauma informed lens we need to think twice about the chilling effect this could create and that the resulting sanction of violating the No Contact Directive should fit the level of the violation. Did they send a “hello” text or did they threaten violence?

 

I’m being told a violation is violation and both parties should be immediately suspended if they violate the directive-  even for a single text message or email. I believe the violation should be evaluated by severity of the violation.

 

Anyone have this experience with No Contact Directives? How have you handled violations?

-Alina

 

Alina Torres-Zickler

Assistant Director

Office of Social Equity

West Chester University

Ph. 610.436.2838

Email:

 

Be kind, for everyone is fighting their own quiet battle. - Cicero