Swarthmore College announced on Thursday that it would make a series of changes in its policies for dealing with sexual harassment and assault, including hiring an advocate for victims and a full-time coordinator to monitor the college’s compliance with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Rebecca S. Chopp, the Pennsylvania college’s president, outlined those changes and others in a letter to the campus. Swarthmore also released an interim report from an outside consultant it had engaged to review the college’s policies.
Shortly after that review was announced, students filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Education alleging that the college had violated Title IX, which bars sex discrimination at institutions that receive federal funds, and the federal campus-crime-reporting law known as the Clery Act. The department’s Office for Civil Rights said it would investigate the Title IX complaint, which is one of several filed against colleges around the country in recent months.
In her letter, Ms. Chopp wrote that the college would make a series of changes based on recommendations in the consultant’s interim report. Those changes include conducting a search for a full-time Title IX coordinator, a position that has been part time. Among other changes, the college also plans to hire an advocate for victims and to require new freshmen to take an online course on sexual assault and prevention.
Ms. Chopp told the newspaper that the college was taking those actions “regardless of the investigation.”
The consultant will return to the campus before issuing a final report on the matter. Ms. Chopp wrote that the final report would offer recommendations “meant to serve us well into the future.”
