Van Brunt quoted in Counseling Today

NaBITA Executive Director Brian Van Brunt quoted in Counseling Today: To reach as many students as possible, counselors need to encourage an environment of multi departmental sharing. http://ow.ly/105e7R

Sokolow quoted in The National Law Journal

The NCHERM Group's President and CEO Brett Sokolow quoted in The National Law Journal article on faculty harassment: “ ..colleges are being forced to re-examine the historical layer of insulation that has been wrapped around faculty members when it comes to discipline of any form." http://ow.ly/105gSC

Sokolow featured in IHE on AAUP report on Title IX and Academic Freedom

In reaction to American Association of University Professor’s critique of Title IX as a threat to academic freedom, President, CEO, and Executive Director Brett Sokolow, J.D. weighs in on the association’s reframing of legislative overreach: [Sokolow]… was less complimentary of the report. He said that while there’s no doubt many colleges and universities are misinterpreting and misapplying Title IX, AAUP unfairly places too much blame on the federal civil rights office. For example, he said, the report accuses the office of mandating a new evidentiary standard that the vast majority of colleges and universities already were using. More than that, he said, the paper doesn’t address the major societal shift toward new expectations for speech and behavior related to sex and gender and a host of other topics. “Members of the campus community are becoming much more intolerant of minor to midlevel misconduct by faculty members,” Sokolow said, referencing recent cases at the University of California at Berkeley, for example, in which male employees accused of harassment had received some form of university punishment but were pressured to resign by students and colleagues who said the university hadn’t done enough. “There is a public sentiment rather than rules-based approach that this report doesn’t recognize,” Sokolow said. “Being that creepy guy has suddenly become not OK.” 

For AAUP’s “History, Uses and Abuses of Title IX” Report: http://ow.ly/ZTyVA

For Inside Higher Ed’s coverage: http://ow.ly/ZTyY3

Harvard makes recommendations on sexual assault prevention and response; Sokolow comments in InsideHigherEd

Commenting on Harvard’s report of recommendations on preventing and dealing with sexual assaults on campus and the report’s emphasis on the university’s final clubs, The NCHERM Group President & CEO and ATIXA Executive Director Brett Sokolow, J.D. said it is not surprising that when institutions seriously examine the culture of wealthy, all-male organizations, they conclude that sexual violence and harassment are especially prevalent. “Sexual assaults will always cluster at the intersection of privilege and alcohol.” http://ow.ly/ZFb3J

UT-Knoxville litigation commentary, Mother Jones

Speaking about the massive civil rights lawsuit brought by eight college women against University of Tennessee-Knoxville, The NCHERM Group President & CEO and ATIXA Executive Director Brett Sokolow comments that this litigation “has the potential to call attention to insufficient discipline of athletes” and could “put other universities on warning that they need to be taking this misconduct seriously and treating it as a culture and climate issue.” Sokolow is also serving as a consultant for the plaintiffs. http://ow.ly/Z4w1R

SI.com, comments on changes to Title IX guidance and interpretation

Brett Sokolow, President & CEO of The NCHERM Group and Executive Director of ATIXA, comments on changes to Title IX guidance and Florida State University’s struggle to interpret them in connection to allegations of rage against Jameis Winston at SI.com: The changes [to FSU’s Title IX policy] largely resulted from a 2011 requirement of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights that schools across the country “change the culture of on-campus sexual harassment and violence.” In wake of the initiative, universities were not given specific guidelines on how to comply. “They weren’t changing by the minute, but things were changing every time new guidance would come out,” Association of Title IX Administrators executive director Brett Sokolow told the Tampa Bay Times. “And new guidance was coming out left and right.” http://ow.ly/YZv7U

The NCHERM Group and NaBITA experts presenting at 20th Annual Texas Higher Education Law Conference

We are pleased to have NaBITA Executive Director Brian Van Brunt, Ed.D., NCHERM Group Parnter W. Scott Lewis, J.D., and NCHERM Group Consultant Gentry McCreary, Ph.D. presenting at the 20th Annual Texas Higher Education Law Conference at the University of North Texas in Denton, TX on March 21 & 22, 2016.

Scott Lewis will provide updates on federal laws and regulations during a general session on Monday, March 21. Brian Van Brunt will give two presentations, a break-out on Violence Assessment and the Written Word (VRAW2) and a general session on The Dirty Dozen: Risk Factors for Sexual Violence on Campus. The latter will be co-presented by NCHERM Group Affiliated Consultant Amy Murphy, Ph.D. of San Angelo State University. Gentry McCreary will present on Campus Cultures and Hazing in a break-out session and Investigating Hazing and Related Incidents in a general session.

Register today at http://ow.ly/ZbiVo 

ATIXA position on transcript notation in The Huffington Post

The Association of Title IX Administrators, a higher education professionals group, last year began calling for schools to note on academic transcripts if a student has been dismissed or expelled over a sexual assault accusation.

http://ow.ly/YX5C8