- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- next
- | single page
SOUTH BEND — Students who report sexual assaults at the University of Notre Dame are now assigned a trained resource coordinator, don’t have to face their alleged assailant in a hearing room and may appeal any decision reached by a campus disciplinary board.
And each sex assault case reported will prompt an immediate Title IX investigation to determine whether sexual harassment occurred, regardless of whether the complainant wants to pursue criminal charges and/or a campus disciplinary hearing against an accused student.
Those are some of the changes Notre Dame administrators made in campus procedures over the summer as a result of an agreement with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. Notre Dame voluntarily entered into the settlement as a resolution to a seven-month federal investigation into the university’s handling of such cases.
The agreement requires that Notre Dame ensure students and the public know how to report sexual harassment and what to expect from the university and law enforcement after making a report.
"I’m confident that we will meet their standards," said the Rev. John I. Jenkins, Notre Dame’s president. "I’m also confident that our procedures are as a good as anywhere in the country."
The university was criticized by some parents, students and victim advocates last year for its handling of assault cases.
In one high-profile case, Saint Mary’s College student Elizabeth "Lizzy" Seeberg, 19, committed suicide on Sept. 10, 2010, nine days after accusing a Notre Dame football player of sexual battery while they were alone in his campus dormitory room.
The male student grabbed her face and kissed her, pulled down her tank top, touched and squeezed her bare breasts, and held her down in his lap, all while she was crying and scared for her safety, Seeberg wrote in a Sept. 5, 2010 typed statement for police. A copy of the statement was obtained by The Tribune.
Under the revised policy, whenever the university receives key facts about an alleged sexual assault — such as names of those involved, date and location — it constitutes a report that Notre Dame must investigate to assure it is providing a safe environment for all students, said Ann Firth, the university’s newly named deputy Title IX coordinator.
"If someone provides that information to a campus official, then the university has an institutional obligation to follow up and investigate," she said.
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits sex-based discrimination at educational institutions that receive federal funds. Sexual violence and sexual harassment are considered a violation of a student’s right to an education free of discrimination.
Firth will be the point person in all such cases, assigning a trained Title IX investigator to each case and receiving the results.
Firth, an associate vice president for student affairs, has worked at the university since 1985. She earned both a bachelor’s degree and a law degree at Notre Dame.
In the past, Notre Dame’s process in sex assault cases was primarily victim-driven, said Brian Coughlin, also an associate vice president for student affairs. All reported cases were included in the campus’s annual report of crime statistics, as required by federal law, he said.
Now the university is obligated to conduct a Title IX investigation of each reported case — from rape to unwanted touching. Any response by the university may be hindered by a complainant’s request for anonymity and/or inaction, the revised policy states.
A mandate to investigate all sex assault reports as possible Title IX violations doesn’t apply only to Notre Dame. The U.S. Department of Education in April issued a "Dear Colleague" letter to all colleges that receive federal aid detailing how to handle such cases.
Schools informed about sexual harassment or violence must take immediate action to stop abuse. Regardless of whether a victim files a complaint, the school must investigate the incident, even if a criminal investigation is already under way.
Schools also must have sex discrimination policies in place and an employee responsible for managing Title IX compliance. Procedures for filing complaints based on Title IX violations must be clearly available.
The "Dear Colleague" letter cited data from a 2007 National Institute of Justice study report that about one in five women and six percent of men are victims of sexual assault or attempted sexual assault during college. The study found that the majority of campus sexual assaults occur when women are incapacitated, primarily by alcohol.
And each sex assault case reported will prompt an immediate Title IX investigation to determine whether sexual harassment occurred, regardless of whether the complainant wants to pursue criminal charges and/or a campus disciplinary hearing against an accused student.
Those are some of the changes Notre Dame administrators made in campus procedures over the summer as a result of an agreement with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. Notre Dame voluntarily entered into the settlement as a resolution to a seven-month federal investigation into the university’s handling of such cases.
The agreement requires that Notre Dame ensure students and the public know how to report sexual harassment and what to expect from the university and law enforcement after making a report.
"I’m confident that we will meet their standards," said the Rev. John I. Jenkins, Notre Dame’s president. "I’m also confident that our procedures are as a good as anywhere in the country."
The university was criticized by some parents, students and victim advocates last year for its handling of assault cases.
In one high-profile case, Saint Mary’s College student Elizabeth "Lizzy" Seeberg, 19, committed suicide on Sept. 10, 2010, nine days after accusing a Notre Dame football player of sexual battery while they were alone in his campus dormitory room.
The male student grabbed her face and kissed her, pulled down her tank top, touched and squeezed her bare breasts, and held her down in his lap, all while she was crying and scared for her safety, Seeberg wrote in a Sept. 5, 2010 typed statement for police. A copy of the statement was obtained by The Tribune.
Under the revised policy, whenever the university receives key facts about an alleged sexual assault — such as names of those involved, date and location — it constitutes a report that Notre Dame must investigate to assure it is providing a safe environment for all students, said Ann Firth, the university’s newly named deputy Title IX coordinator.
"If someone provides that information to a campus official, then the university has an institutional obligation to follow up and investigate," she said.
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits sex-based discrimination at educational institutions that receive federal funds. Sexual violence and sexual harassment are considered a violation of a student’s right to an education free of discrimination.
Firth will be the point person in all such cases, assigning a trained Title IX investigator to each case and receiving the results.
Firth, an associate vice president for student affairs, has worked at the university since 1985. She earned both a bachelor’s degree and a law degree at Notre Dame.
In the past, Notre Dame’s process in sex assault cases was primarily victim-driven, said Brian Coughlin, also an associate vice president for student affairs. All reported cases were included in the campus’s annual report of crime statistics, as required by federal law, he said.
Now the university is obligated to conduct a Title IX investigation of each reported case — from rape to unwanted touching. Any response by the university may be hindered by a complainant’s request for anonymity and/or inaction, the revised policy states.
A mandate to investigate all sex assault reports as possible Title IX violations doesn’t apply only to Notre Dame. The U.S. Department of Education in April issued a "Dear Colleague" letter to all colleges that receive federal aid detailing how to handle such cases.
Schools informed about sexual harassment or violence must take immediate action to stop abuse. Regardless of whether a victim files a complaint, the school must investigate the incident, even if a criminal investigation is already under way.
Schools also must have sex discrimination policies in place and an employee responsible for managing Title IX compliance. Procedures for filing complaints based on Title IX violations must be clearly available.
The "Dear Colleague" letter cited data from a 2007 National Institute of Justice study report that about one in five women and six percent of men are victims of sexual assault or attempted sexual assault during college. The study found that the majority of campus sexual assaults occur when women are incapacitated, primarily by alcohol.
