an independent audit<\/a> initiated by the University of Alaska President Jim Johnsen that confirms UAF failed in its handling of five sexual assault cases between 2011 and 2014.<\/p>\n\u201cUAF\u2019s failures can be attributed to multiple factors, including the lack of an informed and capable staff for a period of time, insufficient allocation of resources to student discipline and Title IX compliance, a lack of oversight by UAF administration, a lack of early guidance and oversight at the statewide level, and UAF\u2019s tendency to handle matters internally,\u201d the report stated.<\/p>\n
Here in Juneau, Lori Klein has been working hard to make sure those types of oversights aren\u2019t happening at UAS. In January, Klein became the Title IX Coordinator for UAS, a position previously combined with the human resources director.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe university made an investment to separate the two positions,\u201d Klein noted in a phone interview Monday.<\/p>\n
In this role, Klein is responsible for making sure UAS doesn\u2019t violate Title IX, a federal law that protects people from discrimination based on sex or gender and guarantees access to education in institutions that receive federal funding.<\/p>\n
Not properly handing instances of gender-based discrimination, harassment or sexual assault on campus is a violation of Title IX.<\/p>\n
Since August, Klein said UAS has received less than a dozen Title IX complaints. They range in scope from reports of crude sexual drawings in campus bathrooms to sexual assault. According to the Juneau campus crime statistics that looked at 2012-2014, the latest figures available, there were two rapes reported in 2014, one on campus and one in residence facilities. There were also five reports of sexual offenses classified as \u201cfondling\u201d, two on campus, two in residence facilities and one at a non-campus building.<\/p>\n
All UAS employees \u2014 except counseling staff \u2014 are required to tell Klein about possible Title IX violations. At this point, about 75 percent of all UAS employees have received training on this.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor example, an academic advisor is talking to a student and he discloses that he\u2019s being sexually harassed, that advisor has to report that to me, and I act on it,\u201d Klein said.<\/p>\n
Acting on a report means following up and doing an initial assessment.<\/p>\n
UAS has eliminated a traditional adjudication process that involves victims and alleged perpetrators going before a panel of faculty or staff for a hearing. Klein said that takes away \u201cthe courtroom-type atmosphere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead, Klein is responsible for doing the review.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there is a call for an investigation, I do an investigation to determine whether or not there was a violation,\u201d Klein said. \u201cI would meet with all parties and any witness that they would ask me to meet with and take all of that information.\u201d<\/p>\n
If there were a violation of Title IX, Klein would make a recommendation to student conduct if it involves students, or human resources if it involves an employee. Student conduct and HR are responsible for issuing sanctions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf a student is found responsible for sexual assault, typical sanction is suspension or expulsion,\u201d Klein said.<\/p>\n
But there are checks and balances.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf my finding could result in a suspension or expulsion, all parties then have the ability to appeal that recommendation for suspension or expulsion. There\u2019s a multi-step review before a student would be suspended or expelled,\u201d Klein said.<\/p>\n
None of the Title IX complaints this year have involved campus sexual assault.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had sexual harassment in the classroom. We\u2019ve had reports of students who were sexually assaulted off campus by non-students,\u201d Klein said.<\/p>\n
As a Title IX coordinator, Klein said she doesn\u2019t investigate reports that involve non-students or non-faculty.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talked to the victim about their options to report to law enforcement and then we offer any number of support for their continued academic success,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Klein doesn\u2019t have staff under her but she does work with and rely on other UAS employees to help her out. She\u2019s working on implementing resource staff members on the Juneau, Ketchikan and Sitka campuses. They\u2019ll receive extra Title IX training and students can turn to them to report potential violations.<\/p>\n
In addition to responding to reports, Klein also has to think more broadly about how to create a campus environment where sexual assault, gender-based discrimination and harassment doesn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n
Klein is working with the Title IX coordinators at UAF and University of Alaska Anchorage to write policy and regulation that applies to all three universities.<\/p>\n
University of Alaska Board of Regents member John Davies is chair of a sub-committee on Title IX compliance. He visited UA\u2019s three major campuses last month and held listening sessions with faculty, staff and students.<\/p>\n
One of the most urgent issues that came out of those sessions, Davies said, is the need for victim advocates on campus that are separate from the Title IX office.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have that in place at any of the campuses at this time,\u201d Davies said. \u201cSo it\u2019s still a problem that students going through the investigative process are often going through it on their own and don\u2019t have somebody at their side that\u2019s looking out for their individual best interests.\u201d<\/p>\n
Klein said at UAS, students are connected to advocates at AWARE, but she is working on having advocates on campus. Davies hopes all universities will have them in place within the next two months.<\/p>\n
He said the Board of Regents will ensure there are adequate Title IX resources at the campuses.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll be carefully querying the president as he brings his budget forward to make sure that that issue is going to be adequately resourced in spite of the budget difficulties,\u201d Davies said.<\/p>\n
The Board of Regents also expects to hear from the Department of Education\u2019s Office of Civil Rights, which launched a Title IX compliance review of the UA system two years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny month now I expect to get a report back from them. My fervent hope is that every single issue that they bring up in that report, we\u2019ve already addressed,\u201d Davies said.<\/p>\n
Overall, Davies said he\u2019s pleased with the change of campus response in handling sexual assault and gender-based harassment and discrimination.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not pleased with the fact that we still have serious Title IX and sexual assault issues that we have to deal with, but that\u2019s just a fact of our society,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
At first, Davies said he was daunted by the fact that universities were being held responsible to changing problems ingrained in society.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the more I thought about it, the more I thought, \u2018What\u2019s a better place to start than at the universities,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Davies said he now embraces the task.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the university can be a catalyst for change.\u201d<\/p>\n
UAS student government member Hannah Wolfe-MacPike was at \u201cThe Hunting Ground\u201d viewing in mid-April. During a discussion afterward, she said as a student she sees some of that change.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast semester, I had a student come up to me and tell me they were sexually assaulted and another person they knew of was sexually assaulted on one of our campus paths, and that student asked me what channels to go through,\u201d Wolfe-MacPike said.<\/p>\n
At that time, she said she didn\u2019t know what to suggest, but she does now.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really great that we now have a Title IX coordinator, the UA system has Title IX coordinators and the administration of the UA system has stepped up,\u201d Wolfe-MacPike said.<\/p>\n
But she said students aren\u2019t involved enough in the issue. She was disappointed with how few of them were present at the film.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t see enough of us having that conversation. It\u2019s an uncomfortable topic and it\u2019s not something that a lot of my peers are willing to talk about,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s important and it affects all of us, and I think students need to start doing some of that work on campus.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 Contact reporter Lisa Phu at 523-2246 or lisa.phu@juneauempire.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cThe Hunting Ground,\u201d a film about sexual assault on college campuses, is really troubling to view, said University of Alaska Southeast Chancellor Rick Caulfield, \u201cbut it\u2019s a really important film to look at and understand.\u201d Caulfield introduced the film at the UAS Egan Lecture Hall to an audience of around 30, which included students, staff […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":32297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[75],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-32296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32296"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=32296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}