The Office of Educational Equity is seeking interested faculty and administrators to become Title IX hearing officers and decision-makers.
“This is often challenging work, no question,” says John Meier, provost. “We do need colleagues to step up, be trained, and serve in order to help ensure that ours is a safe campus where everyone receives fair and equitable consideration.”
The role of a Title IX hearing officer and decision-maker is to review investigative reports, participate in live hearings and/or review appeals for complaints of sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating and domestic violence, and stalking. The hearing chair facilitates the hearing, reading from a script, and rules on relevancy of questions before they can be answered. The decision-makers are expected to ask questions of the parties and witnesses. After the hearing concludes, the hearing chair and decision-makers determine responsibility for policy violations. If the accused is deemed responsible, the decision-makers will consider impact statements (if provided) and previous policy violations (if documented) and determine sanctions.
Although it is hard to predict the number of hearings in an academic year and the number of hours associated with a particular case, it can be assumed that a minimum of 6-8 hours will be needed for a particular matter. The more faculty and staff who are trained, the less frequently the same individuals will be called upon to participate.
For more information on the Title IX complaint process, read Process A. For more on the policies, refer to the Policy on Equal Opportunity, Harassment and Non-Discrimination. The next dates for the online course are Sept. 28-29.
Please contact Amanda Hanincik by Aug. 1 if you are interested in serving in this role.