Swarthmore College on Thursday released its interim report on actions it can put in place immediately to address sexual misconduct on campus. The inquiry was conducted in response to Clery Act and Title IX complaints filed earlier this year with the U.S. Department of Education.
In response to the study’s recommendations, Swarthmore President Rebecca Chopp announced that in the fall, the school will conduct a national search for a dedicated, fulltime Title IX coordinator, who will report directly to the Chopp. The search committee will be formed when students and faculty return, with a goal to have a coordinator in place by the end of the academic year.
She also announced that Swarthmore will hire an advocate to provide guidance through the college’s systems for survivors of sexual assault and other forms of sexual harassment and misconduct.
The interim results from the study, which was conducted by Morgolis Healy, made these other recommendations:
- Train more staff to investigate reports of sexual misconduct and consider hiring an additional investigator.
- Enhance Swarthmore’s response to high risk drinking. In response to this recommendation, Chopp announced the school would separate the roles of drug and alcohol counseling and fraternity advising. It will hire a new position to develop and present educational alcohol and drug prevention programming and provide individual and group counseling to students. A task force will review the role of alcohol and other drugs in creating an environment that can contribute to sexual misconduct and to make recommendations to create a safer social environment. Support and oversight for fraternities and for the sorority will become more fully integrated into residential life and student activities.
- Provide comprehensive, clear, and consistent information and education regarding sexual assault, harassment, and other forms of sexual misconduct to meet the Dear Colleague Letter’s recommendations for proactive measures to prevent sexual misconduct
- Train all members of the campus community on the college’s goals and policies relating to sexual misconduct. Priority should be on those who are most likely to receive complaints of sexual conduct.
- Continue improving its efforts to comply with the Clery Act
The commission of the study was prompted by Clery Act and Title IX complaints filed this spring. Students alleged that the school discourages students from reporting crimes, underreports incidents, doesn’t issue timely reports, doesn’t report potential sanctions, and intimidates, discriminates and retaliates against sexual assault survivors and their advocates.
Read the study’s full recommendations.
Read about all of the changes being made by Swarthmore.
Related Articles:
- How the Campus SaVE Act Will Affect Clery Compliance
- How to Investigate Campus Sexual Assaults
- Abuse: The Dark Side of Dating on Campus
- April 2011 ‘Dear Colleague’ Letter on Sex Crime Protocol
- Clery Act Fines Increased to $35K Per Violation
- Clery Reporting: Whose Job Is It Anyway?
- Clery Center: Incident Reporting Has Improved but Could Be Better
- Additional Clery Compliance Guidance
- Specific guidelines on emergency notification, emergency response policies and testing.
- Specific guidelines on missing students.
- Specific guidelines on the new fire incident reporting requirements.
