An Open Letter to Higher Education about Sexual Violence

Please read "An Open Letter to Higher Education about Sexual Violence," by Brett A. Sokolow and The NCHERM Group Partners.

W. Scott Lewis quoted on EducationDive.com

The answer lies in the different roles of the campus administrative process and the police/prosecutorial process, said W. Scott Lewis, partner in the National Center for Higher Education Risk Management Group and a co-founder of ATIXA, the Association of Title IX Administrators, NYC.

Much of the process that campuses undertake is akin to that of an employer. “It’s kind of like any other workplace. If you break the rules of the workplace, it might also be a crime, but you might also get fired,” Lewis said.

Higher ed institutions have an administrative process they must go through, like an employer does. But with sexual assault, additional federal law kicks in because of the possible discrimination on the basis of gender and the possible denial of an educational program.

The idea of a school being involved in the investigation and adjudication of a crime isn’t new. “The dilemma is that these are very difficult cases. The reason you can’t leave [sexual assault cases] expressly to law enforcement is the same reason you couldn’t leave any of these other violations to law enforcement,” he said.

Law enforcement, as an arm of the district attorney, investigates crimes to see if they can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Administrators, like civil courts, rely on a preponderance of evidence, and the stakes are lower. The accused doesn’t have his or her freedom at stake; the worst penalty is getting fired or kicked out of school.

One of the main problems college administrators face with sexual assault cases is that they aren’t specifically trained for the investigations, and may not understand differences between the impartial process and a prosecutorial process, or victim-blaming and accused-blaming, for example, Lewis said.

Click here for the full article.

W. Scott Lewis, J.D. quoted on Time.com

The task force’s goal of eventually making climate surveys mandatory is likely to create some controversy among schools. Colleges and universities subject to Title IX vary widely in their size and resources. W. Scott Lewis, a lawyer at the National Center for Higher Education, a firm focused on higher-education risk management, has cautioned that a “standardized climate survey could be a disaster,” because community colleges, private colleges and state schools are so different.

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Brian Van Brunt, Ed.D. interviewed for story on "Some look to social media to monitor for signs of violent attacks"

Therapist, author, and incoming President of the National Behavioral Intervention Association, Brian Van Brunt, Ed.D. says many mass murderers leak their intentions, often online, to try to control the legacy of how an attack will be remembered.

"They're clearly writing, creating YouTube videos, there's dozens of cases," says Dr. Van Brunt. But how can it be detected? "There's some great technologies out there. We have listening platforms that are really a more suped up version of Google Alert," says Van Brunt.

Click here for the KTVU.com interview.

Brian Van Brunt, Ed.D. interviewed for story on "Threat Monitor Industry Will Bloom"

Click here for the KTVU.com interview.

The NCHERM Groups Names Daniel C. Swinton Managing Partner

The NCHERM Group takes great pleasure in announcing the appointment of Daniel C. Swinton, J.D., Ed.D. as its Managing Partner, effective June 1, 2014. Naming Swinton to Partner serves to recognize his continued leadership of The NCHERM Group as an attorney, trainer, consultant, and vision leader with overall firm management responsibilities.  For the past two years, Swinton has ably served The NCHERM Group as Senior Executive Vice President and as Associate Executive Director of ATIXA. Swinton becomes the fourth partner in The NCHERM Group, joining founder Brett A. Sokolow and long-time partners W. Scott Lewis and Saundra K. Schuster, recognized leaders in the field of higher education risk management. 

Click here for the official press release.

Saundra Schuster quoted in University Business's "Will Title IX Crackdown Make Students Safer?"

Still, these investigations are forcing what most view as long overdue change in sexual assault protocols. Protecting students begins with the proper training of administrators, says Saundra Schuster, a partner at higher ed risk management firm NCHERM Group and a member of the Association of Title IX Administrators (ATIXA).

“We continue to see many individuals ... who have served in administrative roles for a long period of time and don’t respond with a sensitive protocol,” she says. “Grievance procedures need to be clear.”

This includes creating pathways to safe reporting, and faculty should encourage students to come forward. Also, staff must be sensitive to the trauma victims have experienced.

Click here for the full article.

NaBITA Tip of the Week on "Direct Threat No More?"

In the absence of any specific guidance from the U.S. Government, colleges and universities have been left for years now to wonder about the best practice with respect to suicidal students, since the regulations for ADA appeared to remove harm-to-self from the direct threat definition protected individuals with disabilities in 2010.  NaBITA has always contended that colleges and universities may legally separate a student who is acutely suicidal, for their own safety, from the university or from university housing for a period of time.  The question has been a matter of how that can be done, legally.

  

Click here to read the full tip.

Brett Sokolow quoted in AlJazeera America's "Why College Rape Victims Don't Go to the Police?"

“Female sexual assault victims on college campuses, where alcohol was present, and it happened behind closed doors with little or no witnesses -- that conviction rate has to be 1 percent, at best,” said Brett Sokolow, the CEO of the consulting and law firm the National Center for Higher Education Risk Management. “You’re basically saying, 'Let the rapists go free.' The only system that can hold them accountable is the college system.” 

Click here to read the full article.