After federal Department of Education investigators showed up at the University of Hawaii-Manoa last spring, UH officials have been working to dampen any criticisms that might appear in an upcoming report about how the university responds to complaints of sexual harassment and sexual assault.
Jennifer Rose, UH-Manoa’s gender equity specialist, said she regularly provides investigators from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights with updates on what UH has done since investigators came to campus in April, such as increased training for students, faculty, staff and administrators.
Rose candidly said she hopes UH’s progress mitigates any criticisms that might come out in the DOE report, which would begin the process for UH to negotiate what’s called a "Voluntary Resolution Agreement" with the Office for Civil Rights to address any shortcomings.
"When other universities have taken steps to make changes to their policies and procedures and the extent that they do training or provide victim services, we’ve seen a number of universities get credit, which we believe mitigates the outcome of the accompanying Voluntary Resolution Agreement," Rose said.
The DOE’s investigation of UH-Manoa is one of 55 that were launched at universities and colleges around the country and helped prompt a request of more than $1 million for additional personnel and training from the Legislature this session.
The U.S. DOE previously said it will not disclose any facts or details about the campuses under investigation. DOE representatives did not respond to a request from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser about when UH should expect to receive its report.
UH spokesman Dan Meisenzahl repeatedly referred to the investigation as an "audit." He said it already has changed the conversation and atmosphere around the UH system and could be a catalyst that could make UH a nationwide leader in dealing with complaints of sexual harassment and sexual assault.
"This audit has been looked upon, really, as an opportunity," Meisenzahl said. "Since then I’ve heard from the highest levels of the university, ‘If my daughter was going to the University of Hawaii, what would I want?’ Maybe the audit prompted it, but the fact of the matter is that it’s about doing the right thing. The end result is that there is zero tolerance."
Before investigators came to campus, Rose held 20 training workshops in the first part of 2014, mostly about sexual harassment and sexual misconduct. Starting in April, she then conducted 28 more sessions through the end of the year.
As a result, Rose said that some faculty now include language in their syllabuses about Title IX, the sweeping federal promise of gender equality in education that was championed and co-authored by the late U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink of Hawaii.
But several prominent faculty and department chairmen at UH-Manoa insist that they have seen little or no change since DOE investigators appeared on campus.
"I don’t think it’s had anywhere like that impact on ordinary professors," said Faculty Senate Chairman Ron Bontekoe, who also chairs the Philosophy Department.
Bontekoe had not heard that training was being offered and, as a department chairman, was not asked to provide instructions to his faculty about being alert to potential sexual harassment in their classrooms since the DOE investigation began.
"It’s simply not a major issue on campus," Bontekoe said.
UH law school professor Justin Levinson did attend training conducted by Rose in December when "the dean’s office at the law school suggested it was mandatory training," Levinson said. "There has been training offered from time to time by the law school through the years, but I can’t recall the last time it was mandatory."
One of the important concepts that stuck with Levinson was the idea that he and other faculty are considered "mandatory reporters," he said. "If any information comes to us regarding a possible violation, we need to report it."
Asked whether the DOE investigation has created greater awareness about sexual assault and sexual harassment at UH-Manoa, Levinson said, "Does it seem to be more in the university consciousness? Yes. But that might be just because I’m thinking about it more now."
But Meda Chesney-Lind, chairwoman of the women’s studies department, has heard nothing about increased training and was not asked to discuss sexual harassment or sexual assault issues among her students, faculty or staff.
"I haven’t seen any evidence at all that there’s been any real change in attitudes toward campus sexual assault or sexual harassment on the campus," Chesney-Lind said. "Of all of the departments, you would have thought we would have heard something. But there’s been no change — certainly no extraordinary uptick in information about campus sex assault. It’s not as if everything is so fantastic that we aren’t concerned."
Since 2010, Manoa’s Department of Public Safety reported no incidents of "non-forcible" sex offenses on campus through 2012, the last year data were available. But there were a dozen reports of forcible sex offenses on campus in 2010 and again in 2011 — and 11 reports in 2012. Nine of the 11 forcible sex offenses in 2012 reportedly occurred in dorms or other residential facilities.
A paper written in March by Penny-Bee Kapilialoha Bovard, a UH-Manoa doctoral candidate in sociology, found that 1 in 4 female students around the country were likely to be sexually assaulted as undergrad students. Based on projections by the 2000 National College Women Sexual Victimization survey, Bovard estimated that 2,820 of the 11,200 female students attending UH-Manoa at the time would be — or had been — victims of sexual assault.
"This means that institutions of higher education can expect approximately 35 sexual assaults per 1,000 female students each academic year," Bovard wrote.
Some 442 UH-Manoa students also participated in the annual National College Health Assessment that found that 2.3 percent of UH-Manoa students reported verbal threats for sex. Another 8 percent reported sexual touching against their will, Bovard wrote. And 3.2 percent of UH-Manoa students reported attempted sexual penetration against their will.
"We know we have a problem," Chesney-Lind said.
She believes UH administrators are trying to spin the severity of the DOE’s investigation by refering to it as a "routine audit."
"It’s not an audit, and the announcement from the feds does not support that definition of the situation," she said. "They’re saying they’re doing an investigation of campuses where they felt there were problems. We need to take these problems seriously, and I’d like to see more effort to reach out to faculty who actually interact with students."
Indeed, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights said in a statement last year that the campuses — including UH-Manoa — were "under investigation for possible violations of federal law over the handling of sexual violence and harassment complaints."
Investigators have asked Rose for data from 2010 to 2013, Rose said.
While criticizing UH’s response to the DOE investigation, Chesney-Lind applauded UH’s effort to seek $1.1 million from the Legislature that would include money for new "Title IX coordinators" at UH-Manoa, UH-Hilo and one for UH’s community colleges, in addition to the Title IX coordinator already in place at UH-West Oahu.
The budget request also includes $390,000 for five investigators to handle complaints for all 10 UH campuses and $172,000 for two education specialists/trainers for the entire UH system.
The salaries for all 10 new positions would total $832,000. The rest of the $1.1 million would go toward supplies, travel, training and professional development.
"Jen Rose is very earnest but she’s only one person," Chesney-Lind said. "Given the size of the campus, we know we have a problem. So it’s good to ask for more resources."
