This was the overarching message from Friday’s meeting on the new Sexual Misconduct Policy, Title IX compliance and Student Welfare Initiative.
In addition to an hourlong presentation on the new policies, Chief Student Welfare and Title IX Officer Emily Springston and Chief Policy Officer Jenny Kincaid answered questions from the audience, which was comprised primarily of IU staff and faculty.
Springston’s presentation described the line of defense against sexual misconduct on campus: It’s on the Title IX Coordinator and deputies to oversee sexual misconduct reports, it’s on the faculty to report and encourage students to report sexual misconduct and it’s on the students to continually shape the campus ?culture.
“I would argue that some of the most effective things we can do right now are get the message out there that this is not tolerated,” Springston said. “The more people who speak up and the more we have campaigns like ‘It’s On Us,’ with people just vocalizing, you make the norm that this is not tolerated behavior. We will start to shun and make the people who may engage in this behavior feel less and less comfortable in that action.”
The new policies and initiatives are in response to the compliance review of the University’s handlings of sexual harassment and sexual violence complaints under Title IX.
The Department of Education informed IU President Michael McRobbie on March 12, 2014 that IU would be under review and requested 33 different counts of information, including documentation of all sexual harassment complaints and their hearings from the 2011-2012 school year, according to documents obtained by the Indiana Daily ?Student.
“This community has, for a long time, done a lot of work, as has the campus,” Associate Dean of Students Carol McCord said. “This is a new initiative and push — that’s good, absolutely great. In fact, I think if we didn’t have this national attention to it we probably wouldn’t have pushed it this much and I think it’s good that we’re getting that.”
The conclusive results of the Title IX investigation have not yet been released.
On Friday, many audience members asked specific questions about sexual misconduct statistics that could not be answered because the annual report is still being processed.
Audience members continued to ask about the lack of comprehensible and accessible data.
Springston explained that statistics are affected by factors such as sexual assault and sexual harassment being handled separately and complainants who request not to move forward with their report.
McCord also noted that many who are involved in a sexual misconduct incident often do not report it.
“I want to caution about not getting too caught up about what those numbers are,” McCord said. “In the end, we’re still going to use them, and we need to get them out there. It helps us get a more accurate picture, more complete picture, but that’s not the complete story.”
The annual report will include statistics on sexual misconduct complaints, hearings and outcomes. The report will be released this spring or summer, Springston said.
“Clearly the need for you all to see that is loud and clear, we hear that,” Springston said. “We want to get that to you.”
The Community Attitudes and Experiences with Sexual Assault Survey, which was administered to students in November, is also currently under review, McCord said.
The survey measured campus climate and was taken voluntarily by 23 percent of the student body, Springston said.
Some basic conclusions from the survey will be shared with student groups March 8 followed by feedback from students on the results and on what they want to know more about, McCord said.
Faculty members will learn about the results of the survey and the student focus groups in May. Then, all of this information will be used for programming for the fall semester, McCord said.
Staff members also asked for a further explanation of the obligations set for “responsible employees” and “confidential employees” in the new policy.
The policy defines responsible employees as “University employees who have the authority to redress sexual misconduct, who have the duty to report incidents of sexual misconduct or who a student could reasonably believe has this authority or duty.”
This essentially means all faculty members who engage with students are legally bound to reporting sexual misconduct under the Office of Civil Rights. This includes, but is not limited to, all professors, advisers, coaches and administrators.
In some cases this also applies to students who are employed by the University such as associate instructors, teaching assistants and resident hall staff members.
Responsible employees are obligated to report any information they have about a sexual misconduct incident including names, dates and locations.
In the past, some faculty members have been uncomfortable with this responsibility and were fearful of losing the trust of their students, Springston said.
To remedy this, responsible employees who are uncomfortable with reporting are trained to redirect students to confidential employees before the student shares details of sexual misconduct.
Confidential employees are mental health counselors and health care professionals at on-campus health centers who are not legally bound to reporting sexual misconduct.
“At the heart of it is the notion that if a student is sharing information and they’re reaching out and seeking help, we need to make sure we get the attention of the people who are in places to respond,” Springston said.
Assistant Dean of Students of Women’s and Gender Affairs Leslie Fasone also addressed the role of students during these policy changes. Fasone mentioned IU’s adoption of the White House campaign “It’s On Us.”
Students can enter a public service announcement competition by sending in a 30 to 60 second video on sexual assault awareness and prevention. The competition closes Wednesday, Feb. 18.
“We’re really trying to have the students share this message to help them change their norms and us provide support,” Fasone said. “We’re trying to get students out there to educate one another. It’s really about all of us coming together and enhancing what we’re currently doing and then identify where are our gaps and what else can we be doing to meet those gaps with prevention.”
