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The University of Hawaii at Manoa did not fully comply with federal law in its handling of complaints and reports of sexual harassment, according to a federal review of cases from 2010 to 2016.
But the university already has taken most of the steps outlined in a compliance agreement with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, and is on track to complete the last one by the end of the year, according to university spokesman Dan Meisenzahl.
The university announced the “voluntary resolution agreement” in a news release Friday and posted the document and a Feb. 8 letter of findings on its website. It concludes the investigation by the Office for Civil Rights, although compliance monitoring will continue.
“We thank the Office for Civil Rights for its willingness to work with us as we continue to improve,” UH President David Lassner said in a statement. “We have made tremendous strides, and the federal review guided much of that work along the way. But it is an ongoing process, and ultimately this is not just about being compliant but doing what’s right for our community to create a campus environment that is safe for all.”
89 complaints
The Office for Civil Rights reviewed 89 complaints of sexual harassment received by the university from 2010 to 2016. In almost 60 percent of the files, the university determined it could not investigate the report. Such cases include instances where the complaints were secondhand, the alleged victim did not file a report or want to pursue the matter, or the alleged perpetrator was unknown to university authorities or not a student there.
Such challenges to investigation do not absolve the university from following up on complaints, Linda Mangel, regional director of the Office for Civil Rights, wrote in the letter of findings, addressed to Lassner.
“In cases such as these, the university should evaluate what steps it can take in the context of its responsibility to provide a safe and nondiscriminatory environment for all students,” she wrote.
The 15-page letter of findings also expressed concern about the length of time to resolve some cases.
It cited one case in which a student athlete reported being raped by another student athlete. During the university’s investigation of that case, which took 159 days, the administration banned the alleged perpetrator from all student housing.
Although the university sent him letters and met with him, he was spotted in the victim’s dormitory on four occasions. He ultimately was dismissed from the school for the sexual assault and for violating the interim trespass ban. The letter said the university’s failure to enforce the trespass ban during the investigation perpetuated a hostile environment for the victim.
Improvements
Overall, the Office for Civil Rights highlighted the university’s efforts to reach compliance with federal requirements.
“Since the inception of the compliance review, the university and the UH system have taken actions to proactively address their obligations under Title IX,” Mangel wrote. “Of particular note, the UH system has taken substantial revisions to its grievance procedure for processing complaints of sexual harassment and OCR’s review of almost six years of case files reflects improvement in the university’s case processing.”
Steps taken by UH include creating an Office of Institutional Equity to oversee compliance at its 10 campuses, as well as a Title IX Office in 2015. It has appointed a Title IX coordinator as well as confidential advocates on each campus. Title IX is the law prohibiting sexual discrimination, including harassment, in education programs receiving federal funds.
The university has conducted extensive training of staff and updated its sexual harassment and violence policy to ensure a consistent response systemwide, and is implementing a centralized record-keeping system, as recommended by the federal agency. It has trained 2,798 employees at UH Manoa and 5,606 employees statewide.
UH also conducted a comprehensive campus climate survey on sexual harassment and gender-based violence that was released Jan. 8 and will continue climate surveys.
Reaching out
The remaining requirement for UH is to contact people involved in reports of sexual harassment and violence from August 2013 to October 2017 to give them a chance to register any specific concerns they have about the processing of their reports. UH is reaching out to them this spring and expects to have that process completed by December, Meisenzahl said.
The Office of Civil Rights will monitor UH Manoa’s compliance with the agreement. Contacted by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Education said he could not address any case-specific inquiries while the case is being monitored.
The civil rights office has opened 458 investigations of colleges for possible mishandling of sexual harassment reports in recent years, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. They include both compliance reviews, as in UH Manoa’s case, and investigations launched in response to complaints. So far, 121 cases have been resolved and 337 remain open, according to the Chronicle’s tracking system.
UH-Manoa sexual assault letter of findings by Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Scribd
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