BBC's "World Have Your Say" interview with Sokolow

Be sure to listen approximately 35 minutes in to Brett Sokolow's interview on BBC "World Have Your Say" on the question, whose responsibility is it to prevent rape? http://ow.ly/AS7bw

Time quotes Sokolow in "California Passes First-Ever Bill to Define Sexual Consent on College Campuses"

Brett Sokolow, a higher education risk management consultant who supports affirmative consent policies and the bill in California, uses a traffic metaphor to describe the kind of behavior these policies are designed to prevent. “You go forward on a green light. You stop on a red light. But most people tend to run the yellows. They tend to increase their speed rather than slowing down to look both ways. Affirmative consent is telling you to slow down at the yellow light. You’ve been able to fondle, pet, kiss, if you assume those lead you to the next behavior without permission, then you are running a yellow light. You are putting your needs to get through the intersection above the needs for others’ safety.” Sokolow said the affirmative consent policy is preventative—it won’t stop predators, but it will coax some male students towards a healthier norm.

http://ow.ly/ARwKM

Sokolow quoted in The Flor-Ala's "Title IX gets new guidelines and new campus coordinator"

“Gender equity is an inherent good in education,” [Sokolow] said. “All these changes are intended to help to further and foster gender equity so that full participation in the education experience is right for all.”

He described the mandates as complex, complicated and onerous, but said, “many campuses are gearing up to meet them, blending live trainings with online trainings and curricular infusion.”

http://ow.ly/APmEG

Sokolow quoted in Inside Higher Ed’s “Cottage Industry on Preventing Sexual Assault”

In the last decade the University Risk Management and Insurance Association's membership has more than doubled. One of the largest firms, the National Center for Higher Education Risk Management, has worked with 3,000 campus clients, according to its co-founder and president, Brett Sokolow. The Association of Title IX Coordinators, or ATIXA, was also founded by Sokolow and has trained more than 2,000 Title IX investigators since the Dear Colleague letter announced that the federal government would be leveraging Title IX to combat campus sexual assault. NCHERM is also a law firm, currently representing 50 colleges and universities.

NCHERM helps universities deal with more than sexual assault, Sokolow said, but he has seen a definite uptick in that portion of the center's work since the release of the letter.

"I think the increased complexity of many issues, regulations, laws, and responsibilities, has created a heightened need for consulting expertise in a number of arenas," he said. "The way that Title IX impacts on campus sexual violence and other forms of discrimination is technical, complex, and challenging. It is natural for campuses to turn to experts for advice, and for many colleges, we are their lawyers or have the expertise that can help them as they wrestle with complicated and layered issues."

http://ow.ly/AOVCz

Lewis quoted in Time's "Colleges Launch New Anti-Assault Efforts for the New Year"

“Campuses that did nothing before suddenly find themselves in a place where they are doing something,” says W. Scott Lewis, a higher-education risk-management consultant. http://ow.ly/AJDQr (subscription required)

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