Brett Sokolow, President & CEO of The NCHERM Group, quoted in Politico

“We appreciate that the government has given greater clarity but we could always use more, and there are probably some very simple ways OCR could be communicating with campuses instead of scolding them every time they get this wrong,” said Brett Sokolow, executive director of the Association of Title IX Administrators.

Click here to read "Advocates: Campus sexual violence under-addressed."

Daniel C. Swinton, Senior Executive Vice President with The NCHERM Group, quoted in Inside Higher Ed

"Wrongly Accused?" 

Daniel Swinton, senior executive vice president at the NCHERM Group, a law and consulting firm that advises schools and colleges on safer schools and campuses, said he wasn't familiar with the Gupta case, but that it's possible in general for such high-profile events as the Bustamante murder-suicide to "negatively influence" sexual harassment cases that follow.

That said, it is possible for institutions to render fair judgments in those cases, he added. Anti-sex discrimination legislation, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, requires that institutions investigate such cases "fairly, impartially, and promptly," as well as thoroughly, he said. "There shouldn't be a skew in the investigation one way or the other -- let's just see the facts and information and where it lands." Where impartiality is difficult to ensure, he said, institutions may bring in an outside party to investigate claims.

Absent "clear and convincing" evidence in sexual harassment cases, universities typically opt to establish a preponderance of evidence, Swinton said. Absent that, or in "50-50" scenario where it's equally possible that the claims aren't true as that they are, faculty are typically found "not responsible" due to insufficient evidence.

Click here to read the full article.

W. Scott Lewis, Partner with The NCHERM Group, quoted in Inside Higher Ed

"Study Links Binge Drinking and Low Critical Thinking Skills"

The implications of the findings extend beyond the individual students’ academic outcomes, said Scott Lewis, partner at The NCHERM Group, LLC. Alcohol or drug use is almost always involved in rape and non-sexual assault cases on campus, Lewis noted, and students will have a harder time binging Thursday through Sunday once they’re in the work place.

“We know that when they’re drunk they’re making less good decisions, but you can’t do that for four years and think it’s not going to have an impact on you developmentally,” Lewis said, adding that coping and conflict resolution skills are not helped by heavy alcohol use, either. “For prevention education, it stresses the importance of making sure students understand more clearly the definitions of consent and force and incapacity in terms of sexual misconduct, as well as making students even more aware of how to be appropriate interveners.”

But Lewis questioned the feasibility of targeting first-year students whose critical thinking is substandard.

“I don’t know how we would identify that specific group short of some sort of testing,” he said. “I think if you just focus on the whole, that’d be smarter.”

Click here to read the full article.

President & CEO of The NCHERM Group, Brett A. Sokolow, Esq., quoted in The Huffington Post

"A Big Problem in How Campus Police Handle Sexual Assaults"

This sort of communication failure by authorities can amount to a "second victimization" for sexual assault survivors, said Brett A. Sokolow, President & CEO of the The National Center for Higher Education Risk Management Group. "I continue to worry about this phenomenon on many campuses. We educate students about sexual violence, and then they are disappointed when campus or local police dispense quickly with the case."

Click here to read the full article.

NCHERM Group affiliated consultant, Mary Ellen O'Toole, Ph.D., interviewed on CNN about profiling the suspected LAX shooter

Former senior FBI profiler Mary Ellen O'Toole talks about the shooter and what might have triggered the airport shooting.

Click here to see the interview.

The NCHERM Group Introduces Shortcut for Colleges to Easily Comply with Campus SaVE Act

By now, many in higher education have taken a look at the VAWA Reauthorization section known as the Campus SaVE Act. This act is now law, with enforcement expected to kick in a year from now. Start planning now, because there is a lot to this new law. This amendment changes the Clery Act in ways much more substantive than previous amendments. While amendments before asked administrators to disclose existing policies, they largely did not require the creation of new policies except for the set of amendments contained in the 1992 Campus Sexual Assault Victim's Bill of Rights. Now, those disclosures and rights have been largely eclipsed by the SaVE amendments, which will require the field to develop significant new policy language, much of the content of which is prescribed by the SaVE Act.

Summary of changes

• New hate crime categories added to the Annual Security Report
• New hate crimes and definitions added to the Annual Security Report
• Primary prevention and awareness programs required for all incoming students and new employees
• Applicable jurisdiction's definitions for hate crimes and consent required in policy
• Bystander intervention options required in policy
• Ongoing prevention and awareness campaigns required
• Parties entitled to the same opportunities to a support person/advisor at any proceeding or meeting
• Officials responsible for institutional disciplinary procedures must receive annual training
• Policy statements to include written explanation of:
• the rights of victims
• institutional responsibilities
• information about confidentiality
• prevention of retaliation

The NCHERM Group has a shortcut to SaVE you time. They have created template language to satisfy all of the new SaVE Act disclosure requirements (at least as best can be deciphered before regulations are issued). It's eight pages of model language containing policy and procedure information outlined by Title IX and Campus SaVE. This template is available from The NCHERM Group for $249.

To purchase the SaVE disclosure template, visit the online store or contact Alisha DiGiandomenico at (610) 644-3387. Please note that this template only includes the new ASR required disclosures, not all updates that were made by SaVE, such as those involving hate crimes statistics and hate crime categories. 

For additional information, please contact:

Alisha DiGiandomenico

Client Relations

610-644-3387

alisha@ncherm.org

Click here to view the official press release.