Dept. of Ed Opens Investigation Into UNC’s Handling of Sexual Assaults
Last week University of North Carolina (UNC), Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp sent a letter to students, faculty and staff informing them that the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has opened an investigation about UNC’s of sexual assault complaints.
“The University is cooperating fully with this investigation,” the letter said. “In fact, we welcome it. Our response will show how the University has made significant changes in the past 18 months about how sexual assault complaints are handled. They include removing sexual assault cases from the jurisdiction of the Honor System and implementing a new process that involves students, faculty and staff who are specially trained to deal with the complexities of these cases. In addition, we continue to build on our existing relationships with the University’s Department of Public Safety, local law enforcement officials and rape crisis counselors to provide a comprehensive range of support services to students who experience sexual assault.”
The letter claims the university began making many of these changes long before the Office for Civil Rights complaint was filed.
“In fact, much of this work is in response to guidelines and recommendations issued by the Office for Civil Rights to universities nationwide in 2011,” said Holden.
The letter also claims UNC is committed to making additional changes that will improve the way sexual assault cases are handled at the school. Two new employees have just been hired to investigate sexual assault allegations and help survivors of sexual assault get the information and resources they need.
In January, three students, a former student and UNC’s former assistant dean of students filed a complaint with OCR claiming that the university violated the Clery Act and Title IX, among other federal laws by pressuring the assistant dean to underreport sexual assaults. One of the students named in the complaint said she was threatened with expulsion by the student-run Honor Court for talking to the media about her allegations that her ex-boyfriend sexually and verbally abused her.
Related Articles:
- UNC Sex Assault Victim Faces Possible Expulsion for Speaking to Media
- UNC Allegedly Pressured Assistant Dean to Underreport Sex Assaults
- What Are Violent and Abusive Dating Behaviors?
- What Should Campuses Do About Batterers?
- Stalking on Campus: A Silent Epidemic
- How to Comply With the Dept. of Ed’s Title IX Sexual Violence Guidance
- How to Investigate Campus Sexual Assaults
- The Federal Campus Sexual Assault Victims’ Bill Of Rights
- Clery Reporting: Whose Job Is It Anyway?
- Additional Clery Compliance Guidance
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