Editorial: CSU must revamp sexual misconduct complaint system
Incoming California State College Chancellor Mildred García has mentioned she desires to prioritize accountability when she takes over operations of the 23-campus system. Good. She and different high administrative leaders ought to begin by overhauling how they deal with sexual misconduct complaints.
Two separate studies launched this week paint a grim image of dysfunction on the nation’s largest public college system, with campus directors failing to adjust to legal guidelines that forbid discrimination, harassment and retaliation on the idea of intercourse, gender and race. The studies — one by a regulation agency employed by CSU and the opposite from the state’s auditor — have been prompted by allegations that former Chancellor Joseph I. Castro mishandled sexual harassment complaints.
The yearlong evaluation by the Cozen O’Connor regulation agency, which focuses on investigating Title IX insurance policies at universities, documented a bevy of issues together with an absence of oversight by the chancellor’s workplace of how every campus handles complaints, inadequate workers to deal with complaints and heavy turnover at particular person campuses. Investigators discovered that workers who deal with harassment and discrimination complaints at most campuses really feel overburdened and are sometimes unable to deal with the workload.
For instance, CSU officers accomplished investigations in solely about 3% of greater than 2,600 studies of sexual harassment and sexual misconduct, together with rape and sexual assault, filed in opposition to college students and workers through the 2021-22 college 12 months. Some workers left earlier than they may very well be investigated and disciplined, the studies say.
Disturbingly, campuses lack of written insurance policies on whether or not an investigation is warranted when receiving a report of sexual harassment, the state auditor discovered. The audit additionally found that the dearth of documentation and record-keeping meant repeat offenders weren’t recognized as such, permitting them to proceed to re-offend. The state auditor’s report, launched Tuesday, largely mirrors the foremost findings of the Cozen O’Connor report, although its scope was restricted to 3 campuses and the chancellor’s workplace.
Interim Chancellor Jolene Koester mentioned CSU will implement the suggestions made in each studies. A very powerful suggestion from each studies is that CSU wants to remodel the chancellor’s workplace from its present advisory function to a extra highly effective enforcement function overseeing the dealing with of discrimination and harassment complaints at campus workplaces. CSU ought to create a brand new place of assistant vice chancellor charged with main the overhaul and monitoring systemwide compliance of civil rights and Title IX laws, which prohibits sexual and gender discrimination in colleges and establishments receiving federal funds.
Moreover, a separate workplace ought to present oversight and accountability, staffed by individuals with experience in numerous facets of compliance, together with investigators who would supply coaching to all campuses. As nicely, the chancellor ought to add workers to the workplace of common counsel, to cope with the numerous points {that a} main college system routinely handles, which limits efforts to help particular person campuses with authorized issues.
Restricted funding and staffing are severely hampering efforts to adjust to anti-discrimination legal guidelines, the studies observe. Nonetheless, these are core capabilities of any establishment, significantly for a big college system charged with guaranteeing the security of 460,000 college students and 56,000 college. College students all through California and elsewhere depend on CSU for a strong and reasonably priced training. Reasonably priced shouldn’t equate to unsafe or substandard campuses.
It was clear that adjustments have been wanted when the CSU Board of Trustees final 12 months known as for an evaluation of how campuses deal with sexual and gender discrimination, harassment and retaliation. The findings at the moment are in, together with clear suggestions for tips on how to repair the numerous issues. The work can be pricey, however crucial.
