Wrapping one of numerous investigations, the U.S. Education Department's Office of Civil Rights (OCR) found four SUNY schools guilty of violating the federal gender equity law in their handling of sexual misconduct claims.
According to the Huffington Post, OCR announced Thursday it had reached a resolution with four State University of New York (SUNY) schools: University at Albany, SUNY Buffalo State, Morrisville State College and SUNY New Paltz.
The investigation examined the schools' response to a total of 159 sexual violence complaints from the 2007-2008 academic year to 2010-2011. OCR found the schools to be in violation of Title IX, a federal gender equality law. According to the investigation, the school displayed unfair treatment by not always keeping written documentation of the judicial outcomes for both the accused and the accuser.
For example, New Paltz' policy allowed the accused to request a copy of the judicial hearing transcript, but was not clear on whether the accuser may do so. The school also informed the accused of their appeal rights, but not the complainant.
Morrisville State and Buffalo State both allowed the accused to appeal a judicial outcome, but not the complainant. Albany did not inform the accused of appeal rights, but did so for the complainant.
In a practice OCR found troubling, Albany and Buffalo State placed the burden of providing evidence for an investigation on the victim and the accused. New Paltz was the only school with a time limit on when a complaint may be filed, the other three had no such statute of limitations.
The resolution agreement between the schools and the OCR included mandatory policy and response changes. Catherine E. Lhamon, the assistant education secretary for civil rights, was pleased with the school system for entering the agreement.
"Nearly 219,000 students across the 29 state-operated campuses may now expect to go to school in an environment free from sexual violence and other forms of sexual harassment, thanks to this resolution," Lhamon told reporters Thursday. "We look forward to continuing to work cooperatively with SUNY to implement this agreement."
The schools will also be required to provide annual climate reports to ensure the new policies are effective. David Doyle, a spokesman for SUNY, would not comment on the specific nature of the schools' violations, but said the resolution agreement should be seen as a positive for the system.
"The successful culmination of this review affirms and recognizes that SUNY campuses across New York are now national models for Title IX compliance and training," he said.
