OCR Reaches Resolution Agreement with N.D. University
The university agreed to take several steps to correct the violations discovered by the Office for Civil Rights.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights announced a resolution agreement with North Dakota’s Minot State University on July 7.
The agreement was announced after the OCR found several instances where the school failed to comply with Title IX requirements relating to the handling of allegations of sexual assault. In the agreement, university officials pledged to take steps to bring the school’s policies and procedures into compliance with the gender equity law.
The office’s review was sparked by a student’s complaint about the university’s handling of her claim that she’d been sexually assaulted by a professor over the course of two years.
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“OCR determined that Minot State did not take any steps to address the effects of the hostile environment to which the student reported she had been subjected,” a press release from the department states.
In addition to the violations relating to the university’s handling of the student’s complaint, the office also found other areas of non-compliance.
Listed below are the other violations outlined in the press release.
- The university “failed to respond promptly and equitably, including by failing to assess whether the students were subjected to a hostile environment [after complaints].”
- The university’s “failure to coordinate with its law enforcement personnel led to Title IX violations – only one of four complaints of sexual harassment reported to campus security officers actually led to a campus Title IX investigation.”
- The university’s “Title IX policies and procedures and its notice of nondiscrimination did not comply with Title IX.”
The university agreed to make several changes as part of the agreement. Listed below are all of the steps it will take to come into compliance with Title IX.
- The university will offer counseling “and other remedies” to the student who reported that her professor sexually assaulted her.
- The university will “develop a procedure to document each incident or complaint of discrimination on the basis of sex (including sexual assault and harassment) received.”
- The university will “submit for OCR’s review and approval, copies of all grievances filed with the university and related investigative documentation during the 2015-16, 2016-17, and 2017-18 academic years that allege sexual assault and harassment.”
- The university will “retain an equity consultant with expertise in all areas of compliance with Title IX.”
- The university will “revise its Title IX policies and grievance procedures and its code of conduct, including its notice of nondiscrimination and grievance procedures, to ensure that they provide for the prompt and equitable resolution of complaints of sexual assault and harassment.”
- The university will “develop a written protocol between university police and the university’s Title IX coordinator governing promptly notifying each other and coordinating when either receives a complaint of sexual harassment or assault.”
- The university will “periodically review the terms of the university’s new memorandum of understanding with the Minot Police Department to improve communication and coordination regarding allegations of sexual assault and sexual violence.”
- The university will “provide training to students and staff on the university’s revised Title IX policies and grievance procedures.”
- The university will “create a committee to identify strategies for ensuring that students understand their rights under Title IX.”
- The university will “conduct periodic climate checks to assess the effectiveness of steps taken to provide for a campus free of sexual assault and harassment.”
Read the full resolution letter here and the resolution agreement here.
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