The Office of Student Life has revised its sexual assault disciplinary process to allow both complainants and accused students to appeal decisions. The revision comes in response to a letter sent in April by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights. Previously, only accused students had the right to an appeal.
The letter, sent to all educational institutes that receive federal money, provides specific guidelines for the handling and prevention of sexual assault and violence in accordance with Title IX, a law passed in 1972 prohibiting gender discrimination in federally funded institutions.
The requirement that schools that provide an appeals process for grievance complaints of sexual assault or violence must do so for both the complainant and the accused was "a new notion" for the Office of Student Life, said Allen Ward, senior associate dean of student life.
Over the summer, administrators worked to "look at our code and look at our language," with regards to the appeals process, Ward said. The new code, available on the OSL website, now reflects that change.
Margaret Klawunn, vice president for campus life and student services, said she plans to send an email regarding the changes to the student community sometime this week.
The letter highlighted the requirement to designate senior Title IX coordinators to handle grievance procedures and systemic challenges, as well as the need to make their contact information easily available.
Up until recently, Ward and Valerie Wilson, former associate provost and director of institutional diversity, acted as the University's coordinators. Wilson left the University at the end of the last academic year for a job in Washington, D.C. While Ward is still the acting coordinator for alleged harassment by students, Wilson's departure briefly left a gap in the University's Title IX compliance system.
Though Wilson's name, as of Sunday night, remained on the Office of Student Life's website as the designated Title IX coordinator for alleged harassment by faculty or staff, Lina Fruzzetti, professor of anthropology and interim institutional diversity officer, is now temporarily filling the role.
Klawunn said Fruzzetti is receiving all necessary training and that the contact information on the website will be updated shortly.
Students looking to file sexual assault grievances have "several entry points," ranging from student life liaisons to senior administrators, Ward said. A student "would have the right to say, ‘you know what, the entire system has failed me,' and go straight to the top," he added. Ward said that in his six years as a senior coordinator, no student has pursued that option.
Though Klawunn said she was confident in the University's current level of compliance with the new requirements, she added that administrators would continue to be vigilant. "One of the things that's unusual about this letter is how specific it is," she said. "I think we have to be really careful — and we have been, to date — about making sure we implement every piece of it."
Klawunn said Office of Civil Rights officials have already begun to follow up with schools around the country to make sure they are in compliance with the new guidelines.
The need for education about sexual assault and its prevention is one of the letter's heavily emphasized topics. It is also an area in which administrators said the University is at its strongest.
Sexual assault education begins with a guest speaker on the second day of Orientation and continues throughout a student's four years, with access to workshops, literature and updated information, said Frances Mantak, director of health education.
The University recently hired Bita Shooshani as the coordinator of the sexual assault response and prevention program. Though the search for a new coordinator took nearly a year to complete, Mantak, who headed the search for the new coordinator, said all of the services associated with the sexual assault response coordinator remained available last year.
Shooshani, who comes to Brown from San Francisco State University, said she has already been impressed by both the University's "quick" response to the letter and the level of student engagement.
"It's really one of the most progressive campuses I've seen in terms of the response and the care," she said. "Where I'm coming from, things move at a very, very slow pace."
