Al Jazeera America interviews Sokolow on UVA

Interview with Brett A. Sokolow of The NCHERM Group adds nuance to the blunt arguments surrounding the UVa debate.

http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/articles/2014/11/26/uva-brett-sokolow.html.

Brian Van Brunt, Ed.D. interviewed for American Counseling Association podcast on his new book, Harm to Others: The Assessment and Treatment of Dangerousness

Speaker: Dr. Brian Van Brunt discusses his new book Harm to Others; the Assessment and Treatment of Dangerousness. Brian Van Brunt, received his BA from Gordon College, his Masters from Salem State University, his EdD from University of Sarasota/Argosy,  he is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor in KY, and is a National Certified Forensic Counselor . Dr. Van Brunt has worked in the counseling field for over fifteen years. He served as Director of Counseling at New England College from 2001-2007 and as Director of Counseling and Testing at Western Kentucky University from 2007-2013. He is currently the Senior Vice President for Professional Program Development at the National Center for Higher Education Risk Management.

Among other questions, Rebecca Daniel-Burke asks:

• What was your reason for writing this book? What need did it fill in the field that wasn’t there? (or, “I’ve heard this is really two books in one…what’s the story behind that?”)
• What should counselors know when it comes to assessing dangerousness and violence in their patients?
• What credentials would a professional counselor need in order to conduct threat assessment?
• Talk about the difference between affective and predatory violence?
• You mention in the book Hunters and Howlers, can you talk about them some here?
• When offering a violence assessment, what is your advice for a new professionals looking to provide threat assessments?
• There is a lot of talk about forensic assessments, what are these and how do they differ from psychological assessments?
• Discuss the difference between mandated assessment and mandated treatment?
• What are your thoughts on violent writing shared with the counselor? How should this be assessed?
• What are some clinical approaches you use with clients who are mandated to therapy?
• Why are you so passionate about mandated therapy? As a humanistic therapist, doesn’t this run up against the core of this approach?
• Talk about some of your lessoned learned from when an assessment didn’t go well.
• What are some next steps a counselor could take to learn more about threat assessment as a field.
• Social media postings about violence topics seem to be on the rise, what would be some advice for clinicians to assess the difference between a poor choice and potential leakage for an attack?

- See more at http://www.counseling.org/knowledge-center/podcasts/docs/default-source/aca-podcasts/ht052---harm-to-others

Sokolow's Tip of the Week again quoted in The Denver Post

In an April newsletter, Brett Sokolow, executive director of the Association of Title IX administrators, wrote about schools that mistakenly found male students responsible of sexual misconduct when alcohol was involved.

http://ow.ly/EO0J9

Denver Post quotes Sokolow's Tip of the Week

In an April 2014 newsletter, Brett Sokolow, executive director of the Association of Title IX administrators, wrote about schools that mistakenly found male students responsible of sexual misconduct when alcohol was involved.

"These are challenging cases, no doubt," he wrote. "But we have to get them right. ... Finding each of the accused in violation of sexual misconduct is sex discrimination. We are making Title IX plaintiffs out of them."

http://ow.ly/ENYHY

Schuster quoted in Rhode Island Monthly

“I’m hearing [administrators’] stress and concerns,” says Saundra K. Schuster, a lawyer with the NCHERM Group, consultants for higher education risk management. “Right now, they are terrified. They want to do the right thing but lack the pathways to do that. People ask me: ‘Why do you feel schools should be addressing this at all? Let the criminal process handle it.’ It’s not an either-or. It’s a both.”

http://ow.ly/DXXhG

Sokolow quoted on gender-neutral restrooms

“Everyone is protected under Title IX if they are discriminated upon on the basis of their sex or gender,” said Brett Sokolow, UNA’s Title IX compliance attorney. “Some sexual orientation discrimination is gendered and when it is, it comes within the protections of the statute. Transgender individuals are protected, but the law does not explicitly require gender-neutral restrooms.” Sokolow said providing gender-neutral bathrooms is a good idea wherever possible.

http://ow.ly/DVAPc

Inside Higher Ed quotes Sokolow on Princeton resolution

Brett Sokolow, president of the National Center for Higher Education Risk Management, said that with Princeton adopting the lower standard and the department continuing to find colleges who do not in violation of Title IX, there are “probably only a handful of colleges left” who use a higher burden of proof.

“Princeton was one of the last holdouts,” Sokolow said. “Off the top of my head, I can’t think of a single campus still using a higher standard. And that’s a very positive change.”

http://ow.ly/DVyod

The Chronicle of Higher Education quotes Sokolow on mandated reporting

"There is a changed legal dynamic now where campuses are under pressure to act on reports of assault," says Brett A. Sokolow, president of the National Center for Higher Education Risk Management, a consulting and law firm that advises colleges.

When it comes to how colleges deal with sexual assault, whether it is in statements on course syllabi or in conversations with students, professors no longer are in the driver’s seat. "This is a universitywide issue," Mr. Sokolow says. "Faculty members have always acted like they had the privilege of keeping their conversations with students confidential. But that privilege mentality is now coming to clash with federal regulations."

It is the last part of that answer that campus officials believe requires professors to report information about assaults. That also means it is not up to faculty members, but to a university’s Title IX coordinator, to handle that information appropriately, including deciding whether a case should be pursued, says Mr. Sokolow.

Some universities already have made professors conducting research exempt from reporting details on sexual assault if the information comes up as part of a confidential study. And Mr. Sokolow believes that is how the law should be interpreted.

http://ow.ly/DVpty (subscription required)