Univ. of Alaska Reaches Agreement with OCR to Reopen Sexual Assault Cases

The agreement noted several ways the University of Alaska failed to properly respond to sexual assault complaints.
Published: February 27, 2017

The University of Alaska announced an agreement with the Office for Civil Rights that includes a set of changes the school will make to improve its Title IX compliance.

As part of the agreement, which was released Feb. 20 after a three-year OCR investigation, the university will reassess dozens of sexual assault and sexual harassment cases, according to adn.com.

The reassessments are one of a list of steps the school will take as part of the agreement. Other steps include improving training for faculty and students and revising several university policies.

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The OCR found specific flaws in the university’s response to each of the 23 complaints to be reviewed between 2011 and 2015. All sexual violence and sexual harassment complaints made during the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 academic years will also be reviewed.

In several cases the OCR found the school failed to provide the complainant with temporary relief while the claims were being investigated. In other cases, the school failed to promptly complete its investigation or punished the complainant for things like underage drinking.

UA Director of Student Conduct and Ethical Development Michael Votava said some of the mishaps may have been due to a failure to document actions taken by the school rather than a failure to act. As part of the review, the university provided the OCR with more than 20,000 documents.

Since the OCR began its review in 2014, the university has made multiple changes to its handling of sexual violence complaints.

UA President Jim Johnsen says the school conducted an internal audit and took proactive changes. Those changes include:

  • Requiring sexual violence training for students and employees
  • Forming student advisory committees
  • Increasing the number of staff members handling sexual harassment and sexual assault complaints
  • Adopting a statewide database to consolidate university case tracking and reporting systems

Now UA has deadlines to correct all of the errors highlighted in the agreement.

The OCR is expected to release its full findings sometime this week.

Read Next: OCR Investigating 225 Colleges Nationwide for Title IX Violations

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