Myinforms.com reports on The Tennessean article

Myinforms.com also reported on The Tennessean article about a request to delay a campus disciplinary hearing by a former University of Tennessee student: http://ow.ly/YtFeN

Scott Lewis interviewed by KCENTV regarding Baylor’s Title IX Office

The NCHERM Group Partner and ATIXA Founder and Advisory Board Member W. Scott Lewis, J.D. quoted by KCENTV in Waco, Texas regarding work by #titleix Office at Baylor University. 

KCEN interviewed W. Scott Lewis, a nationally-recognized Title IX investigator and partner with the NCHERM Group, which works with campuses on handling sexual assaults.

Lewis said Universities, not just Baylor, have misinterpreted Title IX requirements for years. According to him, the law actually required Universities to have a Title IX coordinator since its inception in the 1970s.

“To be quite frank, most schools didn’t pay attention to it,” Lewis said. “It wasn’t until the ‘Dear Colleague’ letter in 2011 that suddenly everyone started appointing a coordinator that they were supposed to have for the prior 40 years.”

On Friday, Baylor released a plan of action that includes creating more counseling space and mandating annual Title IX training for upperclassmen and graduate students. Before, only incoming students took part. Now, faculty and staff will get yearly training, too. And, Baylor promised to fully fund continuing education for those working in the Title IX Office.

Lewis said Universities need to remember that their investigations are completely independent from law enforcement investigations. Even if a prosecutor doesn’t believe he or she can prove a case to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt, Universities can still take their own disciplinary action based on what they deem to be sufficient evidence.

“They have to have effectively trained investigators to do this, not just well, but exceptionally well. They need to be able to respond promptly, effectively, impartially and resolve these matters appropriately,” Lewis added.

http://ow.ly/YtC75

Brett Sokolow quoted in The Tennessean

The NCHERM Group President and CEO and ATIXA Executive Director Brett Sokolow quoted in The Tennessean regarding a request to delay a campus disciplinary hearing by a former University of Tennessee student.

Along with a statement by Jane Doe 3, the latest court filing also includes a declaration by Brett Sokolow, a national consultant to colleges and universities on student disciplinary procedures and president and CEO of the National Center for Higher Education Risk Management law firm.

Sokolow’s declaration said Tennessee’s public universities use a system of student discipline that does not comply with federal Title IX rules, which govern how universities must respond to allegations of sexual assault.

The system “deviates from the standard of care” required under those rules by giving only the accused student a right to counsel in the proceedings and only that student’s attorney the right to cross-examination, Sokolow said. The process also violates federal rules because of inherent delays, he said.

http://ow.ly/YtwMe

Position Statement on Consent-Based Policy

ATIXA releases position statement on Consent-Based Policy and Requirements of Title IX, its first statement of 2016. http://ow.ly/Y7IHg 

Sokolow quoted in Newsweek on the battleground of LGBT rights

Sokolow says he believes that 15 years from now, most conservative religious institutions will obtain exemptions and the more moderate religious colleges will not. To compete for applicants and to meet the demands of a much more tolerant generation of students, most of the moderate religious campuses have opened their doors to LGBT students, and will continue to do so. He does not see the loss of federal funding at risk.

“As a country, we are becoming more and more open and tolerant, generally, with each generation. This will continue to be true because it has always been true,” said Sokolow. “The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice, as Dr. King said.” 

http://ow.ly/XZuZh

Science Insider quotes Swinton on repeat faculty sexual harassment

It’s not clear exactly how to make sure a university is alerted to a job candidate’s past violations, said Daniel Swinton, a lawyer and managing partner at the National Center for Higher Education Risk Management in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, which advises universities on issues including Title IX.

Often a university doesn’t know when an employee is applying to work elsewhere, so they wouldn’t know to disclose the information, he told ScienceInsider. Also, universities are often loath to release details of a person’s personnel record. State employment laws frequently restrict disclosure of such information, and universities are gun shy of potential lawsuits, Swinton said. Universities already have the option of noting disciplinary actions on student transcripts, he noted, but many don’t.

One possible option is to require the hiring institution to ask recent employers and references about any disciplinary action or Title IX violations, Swinton said. But he predicted any federal efforts to open up personnel files would face legal challenges by groups representing employees. And if violations were disclosed, he predicts that the disclosure would almost certainly not include a complete investigator’s report.

“A few sentences is what I think most institutions would be willing to do,” Swinton said. “And that’s not being chicken. That’s just the world we live in.”

Click here to read the full article.

AP quotes Sokolow on FSU settlement

"This case has raised awareness nationally because of the high-profile coverage and how starkly the systemic failures were chronicled in the media," Sokolow said.

http://ow.ly/XxKKg