By Lauren Mineau
Editor-in-Chief
asp_online@hotmail.com
The U.S. Department of Education
Office for Civil Rights
announced a resolution agreement
with SUNY on Thursday
Oct. 31. that ends a multi-year
review of University at Albany,
SUNY Buffalo State, Morrisville
State College and SUNY New
Paltz. The probe considered 159
complaints of sexual violence
from the 2007-2008 academic
year to 2010-2011.
The SUNY system was chosen
because it is the largest public
higher education system in the
United States with 64 campuses
across all parts of New York.
SUNY was not necessarily
chosen because of any known
problems but rather because of
its size and diversity. The review
found SUNY opposing the
gender equality law, Title IX. A
voluntary resolution agreement
will include changes to the way
campuses handle sexual violence
complaints.
UAlbany was chosen as one
of the schools to receive an indepth
review but no complaints
were made to the Office of Civil
Rights (OCR) about UAlbany
specifically.
On April 4, 2011 the OCR issued
the “Dear Colleague” letter
to all colleges and universities in
the U.S. For the first time, OCR
addressed that sex discrimination
must include all forms of sexual
violence (rape, sexual harassment,
relationship violence etc.).
Previously, Title IX covered
gender discrimination in
education as far as providing
equal athletics scholarships for
men and women, admission
to schools and other forms of
exclusion based solely on gender.
Essentially, it provided equality
between men and women and
was enacted in 1972.
Under the new initiative,
UAlbany did make immediate
changes to comply with the new
guidance.
Prior to the “Dear Colleague”
letter being issued the SUNY
system, including UAlbany was
already in the midst of the OCR
audit. UAlbany’s audit included
a thorough review of 59 reported
cases of sexual violence recorded
between 2005 and 2010. The
audit began in January 2011 and
concluded in September 2013.
Those 59 cases that were
audited all occurred prior to the
“Dear Colleague” letter being
issued.
“We were not chosen to be
audited because something was
wrong, we were not cited for
any problems either. SUNY was
chosen as a large representative
sample of higher education,” said
Karl Luntta, UAlbany spokesman.
UAlbany does have a Title IX
coordinator, Dr. Tamra Minor,
in the Office of Diversity and
Inclusion, located in University
Hall. Currently, she handles
monitoring and evaluating policy
and procedures that respond to
complaints of sex discrimination,
including sexual harassment and
sexual assault and ensures all
students have equal educational
opportunity. Minor also investigates
if there is a complaint
against the procedures followed
in a case of this nature.
Luntta said the voluntary
agreement from the OCR will
help support programs UAlbany
already has in place.
“Our goal is always to provide
the safest and most supportive
community for our students,” he
said.
Going forward, UAlbany will
open an Advocacy Center for
Sexual Violence in Spring 2014.
The office will have a staff that
will help students with issues of
sexual violence, act as advocates
during hearings and provide any
support for the entire campus
community. The center will also
improve UAlbany’s response to
sexual issues across the entire
campus.
The center will consolidate all
the aspects that may be involved
in a case of sexual violence, discrimination
etc.. In some cases,
multiple facets can be involved
and the center will provide a
central location to report, assess
and monitor the information. For
example, if a student is reporting
a case, University Police, Residential
Life, Student Success and
other offices may be involved in
one single situation. The Advocacy
center will provide a central
location for all the information.
“The University at Albany has
many mechanisms in place to
support all forms of sex discrimination.
The agreement with
OCR confirms that UAlbany
has been proactive in addressing
this issue and also reminds our
community of the importance of
developing even more resources
to assist and support victims of
sexual or relationship violence. It
is our responsibility as a University
– and by that I mean all of
us – faculty, staff and students to
provide the safest and most supportive
environment possible for
the entire campus community. To
do that, we must not only support
victims of sexual violence, but
take positive steps to educate
our community on this issue. We
must also work to address the
societal culture that contributes
to sexual violence,” said Christine
Bouchard, Vice President for
Student Success.
In addition to the Advocacy
Center opening, the Title IX coordinator
will now be informed
of every case of sexual violence
on campus and more Title IX
training will occur across campus.
Similar to Safe Space training,
it will allow other people on
campus to serve as advocates.
Project SHAPE, a peer education
program that focuses on sexuality
and sexual health promotion
will also be involved with the
center opens.
The Student Code of Conduct
now allows both parties in cases
of sexual violence to go through
the appeal process.
“This center is a real achievement
with today’s budget cuts
and it is a real credit to President
Jones,” Bouchard said. Pres.
Jones was instrumental in allowing
approval of the center to
open.
