However, there appears to be another area of controversy developing. The feds have proposed making all faculty and other university employees (with limited exceptions) mandatory reporters of sexual harassment. Substantial opposition has arisen to the proposal, citing circumstances in which a victim wants to talk to, say, a faculty member in confidence and may not want to initiate an official case. From Inside Higher Ed:
Professors, researchers and sexual assault prevention advocates want the U.S. Department of Education to rethink plans to expand mandatory reporting requirements to more college employees as part of its overhaul of the Title IX law. The department proposed requiring most campus employees to report cases of potential sex discrimination to Title IX in the regulations released earlier this summer. The public comment period for the new rules closed Sept. 12. The department received more than 240,000 comments, which it is reviewing before publishing a final set of regulations on Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the law that prohibits sex discrimination in any education program or activity that receives federal funding.
Dozens of the published comments mentioned the mandatory reporting change, with faculty members, advocacy groups, students and others weighing in. Nearly all of the comments were opposed, criticizing the proposed provisions as ill-advised, complicated and not beneficial for survivors of sexual assault. Many critics said the department’s proposal would result in nearly all faculty members becoming mandatory reporters.
“Mandatory reporting systems where all but a few faculty and staff are required to report anything they hear, whether or not they have talked to or gotten consent from the student, effectively ruins opportunities for survivors to have a safe avenue for getting help,” wrote Pardes Lyons-Warren, chair of the Student Title IX Assistant Resource Team at Colorado College. “Maintaining control over survivors remains mandatory reporting’s key purpose, regardless of the violations of free speech, privacy and academic freedom that come with that.” ...
Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/09/27/title-ix-mandatory-reporting-expansion-criticized.
What is interesting about this debate is that what is being proposed already is in effect at UCLA and UC. From FAQ's for Responsible Employees:
Under the UC Policy on Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment, any UC employee who is not identified as a confidential resource is a “Responsible Employee” required to report sexual violence, sexual harassment or other conduct prohibited by the policy to the Title IX director or designee.
...All UC employees who are not designated as confidential must inform the Title IX director if they become aware that a student (undergraduate, graduate, or professional) has experienced sexual violence, sexual harassment, or other behavior prohibited by the university’s policy. This includes managers and supervisors, all faculty (including faculty advisors), all staff, athletic coaches and student employees. Responsible employees include both represented and non-represented employees.
Under the UC Policy on Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment, any UC employee who is not identified as a confidential resource is a “Responsible Employee” required to report sexual violence, sexual harassment or other conduct prohibited by the policy to the Title IX director or designee.
...All UC employees who are not designated as confidential must inform the Title IX director if they become aware that a student (undergraduate, graduate, or professional) has experienced sexual violence, sexual harassment, or other behavior prohibited by the university’s policy. This includes managers and supervisors, all faculty (including faculty advisors), all staff, athletic coaches and student employees. Responsible employees include both represented and non-represented employees.
...All managers and supervisors, Human Resources, Academic Personnel, faculty and campus police must inform the Title IX director if they receive a report of prohibited behavior from anyone affiliated with the university , which includes faculty, staff and others affiliated with the university...
Q. As a Responsible Employee, if someone tells me about an incident of sexual violence or sexual harassment, should I tell them I need to report it? What if they asked me to keep it confidential?
Before the individual tells you about an incident of sexual violence or sexual harassment, you should inform the person that you are a Responsible Employee and that while you want to provide assistance, you required to report incidents of sexual violence, sexual harassment or other conduct prohibited by university policy to the Title IX Director. You should tell the person that you cannot keep reports of sexual harassment or sexual violence confidential, but that the Title IX Director will consider requests for confidentiality.
Full guidance at https://sexualharassment.ucla.edu/reporting/responsible-employees-mandated-reporter.
In short, the victim cannot talk to a faculty member or other employee with a guarantee of confidentiality at a UC campus. All that can be said to such a person is that a higher official, not the individual the victim wants to talk to, will "consider requests for confidentiality." In short, while the wisdom of making almost every faculty member and other employee a mandatory reporter is being debated nationally, it seems to have been made official policy at UC.
===
https://ia601402.us.archive.org/25/items/big-ten/title%20ix%20reporting.mp3
No comments:
Post a Comment