The NCHERM Group’s affirmative consent guidance in Think Progress

The National Center For Higher Education Risk Management, which advises higher education institutions about how to craft effective sexual assault policies, has been recommending this type of consent standard for more than a decade.

“The shift in this country away from defining sexual violence as force-based conduct has been championed by many colleges, and is now the law in a majority of states,” the National Center For Higher Education Risk Management noted in a 2001 guide for campuses. “Many state criminal codes are antiquated, at best. Colleges are on the cutting edge with so many issues, ideas, and research. Sexual misconduct should be no different, and is an area in which colleges really can and do lead the way.”

Click here to read the full article.

Brett Sokolow quoted in USA Today’s “Colleges get new rules on dating violence”

In responding to concerns raised on their campuses, some colleges “have let the pendulum swing too far in the wrong direction,” said Brett Sokolow, CEO of the National Center for Higher Education Risk Management Group, a law and consulting firm. He said he has taken on some sexual assault cases on behalf of men in which both parties had been drinking heavily before having sex. “It’s a trend that really needs to be nipped quickly. We have to provide equal dignity for all students,” Sokolow said.

Click here to read the full article.

Let's Debunk George Will's Rape Denying Theorem

Read the ATIXA Tip of the Week, “Let’s Debunk George Will’s Rape Denying Theorem“

Brett Sokolow quoted in the Chronicle of Higher Education’s “Opening New Front in Campus-Rape Debate, Brown Student Tells Education Dept. His Side”

Brett Sokolow, president of the National Center for Higher Education Risk Management—a consulting and law firm that advises colleges—says Mr. Kopin’s letter is a natural progression in the battle college men are waging against mounting accusations of sexual misconduct. "As victims are increasing the tools in their toolbox, and giving public statements on the street corner," he says, "the defense has to get more sophisticated as well."

This spring, says Mr. Sokolow, he has noticed a significant uptick in the number of men complaining that colleges have mishandled allegations of sexual misconduct against them. Since April, he says, at least 55 young men have asked him to represent them in disputes with their colleges or universities. So far, Mr. Sokolow has taken on 11 of those cases.

He believes that the rising number of complaints from men stems in part from increasing pressure on colleges to hold students responsible for sexual misconduct, and the mistaken belief among administrators that this means they should find more young men responsible. "All of this pressure from the White House and OCR has been communicated, and these university panels believe they are supposed to vote a certain way now," says Mr. Sokolow. "Campuses are saying, We have to comply with Title IX, so we have to side with the victim."

Click here to read the full article.

Brett Sokolow quoted in LA Times’ “More college men are fighting back against sexual misconduct cases”

On one point, all parties seem to agree: Campuses should improve training to help clarify when a person is too drunk or high to give consent. Brett Sokolow, executive director of the Assn. of Title IX Administrators, said a checklist of signs could help, such as stumbling, slurred words and vomiting.

Click here to read the full article.

A Response from The NCHERM Group: The Corporatization of Colleges with Respect to Responding to Sexual Violence

Yesterday, Al Jazeera America carried an opinion piece decrying the corporatization of colleges with respect to responding to sexual violence.  Dana Bolger, who wrote the opinion piece, is one of the founders of Know Your IX.  Certainly corporatization is concerning, but Ms. Bolger would have readers believe that all college administrators care about is the bottom line, how they look in the press and how to avoid liability.  As someone who works with administrators every day, I find they are empathic, caring and engaged in what is best for students, for the most part.  Any field has its corruption, but a blanket assertion of the evils of the corporate university does a disservice to how hard most university administrators work to make their campuses safe and responsive to student concerns.  

Ms. Bolger also took issue with a previous Tip of the Week we wrote, entitled "Twenty Steps to OCR-Proof Your Campus on Title IX.”  Bolger offered it up as a prime example of the corporate evil of colleges, so I took another look at it to see what was so offensive in what we wrote.  Actually, I like the content so much we’re going to run it again. View the original  Tip of the Week here. I’m sorry Ms. Bolger didn’t like the title, but I think keeping OCR off of college campuses is a good thing when there is no reason for OCR to investigate a campus.  The Tip is about doing the right thing so that a campus is compliant, and OCR has no basis to investigate.  Bolger characterizes it as advice to “avoid” an OCR investigation, but that’s smear language. It’s advice to prevent an investigation.  Read it for yourself.

Does Know Your IX just want more investigations for the sake of investigations, or does it actually want colleges to do the right thing and fully comply with or exceed the requirements of law? Hopefully, it’s the latter.  If that is all she can cherry-pick to mischaracterize us, she may be hoping no one actually clicks the link. I wonder how many of our 20 recommendations Ms. Bolger actually disagrees with?  I’ll hope she’ll post on that.  

Know Your IX has done much good with its activism and advocacy, and Ms. Bolger’s leadership and courage is to be commended.  The credibility of Know Your IX and its work will be measured by the accuracy of the complaints it files and the opinion pieces it writes.  Fuzzy math won’t help. Ms. Bolger adds 2+2 and comes up with 5 when she asserts that a majority of the 61 campuses currently under investigation by OCR are listed by The NCHERM Group as clients.  Our client list includes 17 years of campus clients.  Some haven’t been clients in a decade, but used our services at some point.  Other campuses used our services for something completely unrelated to Title IX.  So, I’d like to help Ms. Bolger with her math.  The total number of campuses regularly using our consulting services on Title IX, who are now being investigated by OCR, is ZERO.  Maybe it’s because they follow our tips of the week, rather than attacking them?  

When Schools Put Their Brands Before Assaulted Students

Originally Published June 10^th, 2014

http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/6/college-sexual-violencerapeeducationtitleixbranding.html

Twenty Steps to OCR-Proof Your Campus on Title IX

Originally Released August 26^th, 2013

http://www.ncherm.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/2013-08-26-TNG-TOW-Twenty-Steps-for-OCR-Proof-Your-Campus.pdf

Brett A. Sokolow, President & CEO

The NCHERM Group, LLC

116 E. King Street

Malvern, PA 19355

(610) 993-0229

www.ncherm.org

Click here to read the PDF.

Herald-Tribune quotes Brett Sokolow “In Coach Abuse, Did Manatee Violate Title IX?”

“It all sounds fairly outrageous,” said Brett Sokolow, executive director of the Association of Title IX Administrators. “There was either incredible ineptitude or there was a cover-up.”

Click here to read the full article.