The U.S. Department of Education announced Monday that its Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has found Tufts University has failed to comply with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to address sexual assault and harassment issues.
Although Tufts had entered into an agreement to remedy its violation on April 17, the university informed OCR on April 26 that it was “revoking” the agreement. OCR claims this action constitutes a breach of the agreement. Under federal civil rights regulations, OCR may move to initiate proceedings to terminate federal funding of Tufts or to enforce the agreement. The office stands ready to confer with Tufts on how to come into compliance speedily.
“The facts of this investigation underscore the continuing imperative to address sexual assault and harassment on our nation’s campuses and to promote safe, secure environments for students,” Catherine E. Lhamon, assistant secretary for civil rights, said in a press release. “Our federal civil rights laws demand that students not be denied their ability to participate fully in education because of sexual assault and harassment. OCR will take actions necessary to ensure that the agreement is fully and effectively implemented. I was so impressed with Tufts President Monaco’s leadership, and I hope and expect that Tufts will return to productive progress for its students in the coming days.”
In the statement, OCR recognized that during the course of its comprehensive investigation, Tufts made a number of important improvements to its policies, procedures and practices for handling sexual assault and harassment of complaints. However, more changes are necessary to ensure the safety of more than 10,000 students at Tufts’ three campuses in Medford, Boston and Grafton, Mass.
The office concluded that the university failed to provide prompt and equitable responses to student complaints of sexual assault and harassment, as required by Title IX. Tufts did not investigate alleged sexual assaults when notified unless the allegations were part of a written complaint. The university did not have a permanent Title IX coordinator for more than a year and a half during the 2009-10 and 2010-11 academic years. The institution failed to ensure equal access to its education programs and activities and to protect complainants as necessary, including by taking effective interim measures before the final outcome of an investigation. OCR also determined that Tufts’ current policies and procedures do not comply with the applicable Title IX requirements.
In addition, the office determined that for the student filing the complaint with the Education Department, the university allowed for the continuation of a hostile environment and denied the student’s access to educational opportunities at the university. Arrangements made by the university to separate the student and the accused disproportionately burdened the student.
The agreement signed by the university requires Tufts to address sexual assault and harassment on its campuses in a comprehensive manner that includes clarifying applicable processes for responding swiftly and effectively. It also requires the university to assess the effectiveness of the steps it takes and, with OCR review and approval, to take additional steps that may be necessary to ensure that students are not subjected to a sexually hostile climate. Specifically, Tufts committed to:
• Ensure students and staff are aware of Title IX’s prohibition against sex discrimination, including how to recognize it when it occurs, and how to report incidents.
• Revise its policies, procedures and investigative practices to provide a grievance procedure that ensures prompt and equitable resolution of sexual assault and harassment allegations.
• Provide timely and effective interim relief for complainants, including academic adjustments and housing changes as necessary.
• Seek input from the campus community and conduct periodic assessments of the campus climate in order to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of the university’s implementation of its sexual assault and harassment policies and procedures and to enhance its efforts to provide a safe environment for students.
• Report on recommendations made by the university’s Sexual Misconduct Prevention Task Force and, following OCR review and approval, on the actions taken to implement the recommendations.
• Provide regular and mandatory training on issues related to sexual assault and harassment and on the requirements of Title IX to all members of the university community – including students, faculty, administrators and other staff.
• Report annually to OCR on the steps taken by the Title IX coordinator to prevent and respond to sexual assault and harassment.
• Provide monetary compensation to the student who filed the OCR complaint.
• Review all sexual assault and harassment complaints filed during and since academic year 2011-2012 to assess whether these complaints were handled appropriately under Title IX. Based on its review and following OCR review and approval, the university will take action to address any concerns identified, including providing appropriate remedies that are still needed to the complainants in these cases.
In response to OCR’s allegations, Tufts issued the following statement to Campus Safety:
“Tufts University is surprised and disappointed that the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has declared the University to be out of compliance with Title IX. Tufts University is deeply committed to the safety and well-being of our students, faculty and staff. We have in place and fully support policies and procedures that comply with Title IX, are consistent with the significant guidance documents issued by the department, and effectively serve our students, faculty and staff. We believe the department’s recently announced finding has no basis in law and we have requested to speak with OCR’s Washington Office to discuss this unexpected and troubling announcement. This situation in no way lessens our commitment to moving forward with steps to enhance our policies and procedures. We have already taken many of those steps. We look forward to working with OCR to resolve this issue.”
Download the summary of actions taken by Tufts in response to OCR’s investigation.
“For nearly four years, Tufts has worked cooperatively with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to resolve the department’s investigation of one student’s complaint regarding sexual misconduct that was filed with OCR in 2010. Throughout this lengthy investigation, the University cooperated fully with OCR. We complied with every request for access to information and personnel and worked collaboratively with OCR to seek resolution of the complaint.
“Tufts also conducted its own internal review of the University’s response to the incident underlying the complaint. Based on our own review, we acknowledge that more could have been done to address the student complainant’s concerns at that time. We have since taken steps to remedy that situation. More broadly, we have also revised our policies, procedures and the structure of our response to ensure that we respond to sexual misconduct complaints in a prompt and equitable manner that complies with Title IX and applicable regulations.
“On April 17, 2014, Tufts signed a Voluntary Resolution Agreement with OCR that outlined the numerous actions that Tufts has taken since 2010 to achieve these goals. A listing of significant steps taken by the University is appended. 
; The Agreement also outlined additional actions Tufts agreed to take to further enhance the effectiveness of its Title IX responses. Many of these actions incorporate evolving guidance received from the department over the past few years, including the April 4, 2011 Dear Colleague Letter.
“At no time before we signed the April 17 Voluntary Resolution Agreement did OCR indicate that it found the University’s current policies out of compliance with Title IX. Instead, OCR consistently affirmed our progress and current compliance with the law. It was not until April 22 – after we signed the Voluntary Resolution Agreement – that OCR informed us of its serious and, we believe, unsubstantiated finding. Given the extensive collaborative efforts to reach that Agreement, we are disappointed by the department’s course of action. Our repeated requests to speak with OCR in Washington about this new finding have been unsuccessful.
“Under these circumstances, on April 26, we regretfully revoked our signature from the Voluntary Resolution Agreement. We could not, in good faith, allow our community to believe that we were not in compliance with such an important law. Revocation of the agreement in no way diminishes our commitment to moving forward with the steps included in that agreement or to continuing to enhance our policies and procedures. Indeed, many of those steps have already been take. We look forward to working with OCR to resolve this disagreement and to implementing all of the elements in the Voluntary Resolution Agreement. We have stated that commitment in all our communications with OCR and we reaffirm it now. Our goal is a campus culture in which every member of our community is respected, supported and safe. Sexual misconduct has absolutely no place at Tufts University.”
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