Eastern Michigan University, which paid the largest fine ever imposed for violating laws on campus-crime reporting, also must revamp its sexual-harassment policies under an agreement reached with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.
The department’s investigation of whether the university was in compliance with Title IX, a 1972 law that prohibits sex discrimination at educational institutions that receive federal funds, stems from the rape and murder of a female student on the university’s campus in 2006.
Findings recently posted on the federal office’s Web site allege that the university was not in compliance. For example, the department found that the university did not have a prompt and equitable procedure for responding to student and employee complaints about potential violations of Title IX. It also did not provide the name and contact information of the person to whom students should file a complaint.
The department also recently investigated Notre Dame College, in Ohio, for similar compliance issues resulting from reports of at least six sexual assaults of students on the campus during the 2005-6 academic year. That investigation also found that, among other things, the college had an inadequate procedure for dealing with complaints.
In both cases, the department took particular issue with the institutions’ use of the campus judicial system to process allegations of sexual harassment or assault against students. Department officials wrote that Title IX does not prohibit a college from using its judicial system to process complaints, but that any such process must provide a remedy for a victim.
In the case of both Eastern Michigan and Notre Dame College, the department said, the judicial process focused on determining sanctions for the accused rather than addressing the rights of the victim.
Barbara A. Lee, a professor of human-resource management in the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers University, said that handling sexual-harassment or sexual-assault claims through the judicial process can be problematic because the hearing panels, often composed of students, may not be well trained. “They also may not be set up to do investigations the way that Title IX requires,” she said.
Both colleges voluntarily agreed to change their policies, cutting short the department’s investigations. The agreements outline a lengthy list of changes each college must make, including revamping their Title IX grievance procedures; clearly designating Title IX coordinators and ensuring those people are adequately trained; providing similar training for faculty and staff members, such as coaches and housing directors, who regularly interact with students; developing and distributing information for students about sexual harassment and assault; and conducting periodic “climate checks with students.”
Patrick T. O’Rourke, managing senior associate university counsel at the University of Colorado, said on Friday that such agreements could give other colleges a guide for assessing potential weaknesses in their own policies. However, Mr. O’Rourke said, he didn’t think the department was asking for anything extraordinary. “The flavor I got out of it was, Whatever processes you have in place are not enough,” he said.
Ms. Lee also said that most colleges already should be doing what the agreements require.
The Office for Civil Rights has been public about its move to more consistently enforce laws against discrimination, including Title IX.
