Campus officials are commonly confused about their legal obligations in resolving reports of rape. The federal civil-rights law known as Title IX compels them to take action, periodically updated rules have offered some direction, and a new series of questions and answers from the U.S. Department of Education attempts to provide additional clarity.
Since the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights issuedprescriptive guidance in the form of a "Dear Colleague" letter, in 2011, it has been collecting questions from students, colleges, and professional groups, such as the National Association of College and University Attorneys.
The 52-point Q&A, released on Monday along with recommendationsfrom the White House Task Force to Protect Students From Sexual Assault, goes into significant detail—and repeatedly reflects the contention by many victims that the campus reporting process retraumatized them.
The document asks, for instance, what happens if a student is found to have sexually assaulted a classmate, and remedies require separating the two, but they’re in the same major? The answer: Consider alternate solutions that minimize the burden on the victim, such as arranging for the perpetrator to take online courses or independent studies. What if, another question asks, at a Take Back the Night event, a student speaks out about having been assaulted—is the institution required to investigate? In that case, no, but it should provide information at such events on how to report an incident.
Read more at The Chronicle of Higher Education: http://chronicle.com/article/How-to-Handle-Reports-of/146263