The University of Mary Washington (UMW) participated August 24, 2015, in a discussion of a possible statewide network of shared resources and investigators to address campus assaults.
“UMW is interested in the concept of a statewide campus expert resource data base and potentially sharing resources and expertise in the interests of students across the Commonwealth,” said UMW Chief of Staff Martin Wilder, who represented the school at a meeting of presidents of public institutions at the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV). He said the matter should be explored by the new SCHEV Advisory Committee on Combating Campus Sexual Violence.
“The approach also could make victims of assault more willing to come forward if they could discuss what happened to them with investigators who ‘are not people they see every day,'” University of Virginia President Teresa Sullivan told the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Sullivan said the strategy was first suggested by former state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, to allow schools to share costs to comply with Title IX.
There are six Virginia schools under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education for how they handled allegations of sexual violence. They are the College of William and Mary, James Madison University, the University of Richmond, the University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University and Washington and Lee. (See the attached list of Title IX postsecondary sexual violence investigations, provided by the U.S. Department of Education.)
Feminists United UMW filed a federal complaint on May 7, 2015, with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for for Civil Rights, alleging the university failed to act on knowledge and violated the gender equity law Title IX over sexual harassment.
More
3 Free Showings of “The Hunting Ground”
Feminists United UMW Calls Hurley Statements ‘Galling and Untrue’ (June 15, 2015)
UMW President Refutes Feminist Majority Foundation (June 8, 2015)
Suit Claims UMW Ignored Sexual Harassment Reports (May 9, 2015)
UMW Men’s Rugby Club Suspension A National Conversation (March 26, 2015)
Complaint Claims University Where Student Was Killed Failed To Act On Relentless Yik Yak Threats (HuffPost College, May 7, 2015)
Virginia Wesleyan College Demands Rape Victim’s Entire Sexual History (August 9, 2015, on The Huffington Post)
Making it harder to punish campus rapists won’t help stop campus rape (August 10, 2015 in The Washington Post)
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