University of Tennessee releases report critiquing sexual assault policies
Nearly a year after settling a $2.48 million lawsuit that brought intense national scrutiny to sexual assaults at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, campus officials on Saturday released a long-promised special review of its sexual assault policies.
The 28-page report, written by a committee of four independent experts hired by UT president Joe DiPietro, outlines a series of concerns and recommendations drawn from interviews with leaders and students across the college system.
DiPietro said he would move forward with the experts' recommendation to hire a statewide coordinator for policies related to Title IX, the federal law that guides campuses on sexual discrimination and violence responses. He said he hoped to have that position filled by the end of the year.
Among the independent commissions four other "major recommendations:
- Adding additional Title IX staff and resources
- Updates and modifications to policy and procedures
- Enhancing supports for students
- Additional education, prevention and training efforts
DiPietro said it was too early to say how the system would respond to each of those. He and his staff received the report Thursday and were continuing to review it.
He said progress would be a "priority," but he added that funding changes would be a challenge.
"Resources are always finite," DiPietro said. "We'll probably have to struggle with how do you find the resources to implement the programming at some of these places."
Knoxville Chancellor Beverly Davenport said the most pressing challenges facing UT are not just financial.
"One of the most challenging things is culture," Davenport said. "We can get our policies and practices in order ... but changing the culture in which these kinds of practices happen — that's a cause for concern for all of us."
Preventing sexual assaults has become a cultural challenge for universities across the country and for society as a whole, Davenport said. In addressing the issues raised in the report, Davenport and DiPietro said, they hoped to establish UT as a national leader in the effort.
Athletics a central focus of report
The Knoxville athletics department was central to allegations in the Title IX federal lawsuit that spurred the report. The lawsuit claimed the department fostered a culture that enabled sexual assaults, and that the campus disciplinary process that favored accused athletes over alleged victims.
In its settlement, the university did not admit to any wrongdoing.
The experts' review noted that the athletics department staff had demonstrated a “heightened awareness” of the importance of following sexual assault reporting procedures. The report recommended that work remain ongoing, stating: “continued targeted focus in this area should continue.”
The recommendations for athletics departments on the Knoxville campus and system-wide include reviewing the student athlete transfer process “to ensure that it addresses the recruitment of those who have been found responsible of sexual violence, dating and domestic violence, and violent stalking behaviors."
Report describes a system that is 'difficult to navigate'
The four-member panel was given complete independence to do its work, DiPietro said. They conducted 65 interviews and follow-up conversations with 52 administrators and staff. They also conducted a series of focus groups at UT campuses in Knoxville, Chattanooga and Martin.
Panel members did not review individual disciplinary cases or seek out interviews with students accused of misconduct or those who alleged they were victims of sexual assault.
They instead held "listening sessions" that were open to students and gave individuals, including victims, the opportunity to request private interviews, DiPietro said.
The report noted wide-ranging confusion surrounding many Title IX policies and procedures at UT and recommended an overhaul of those policies to provide clarity.
"Students, faculty, and staff reported that due to its length and what many described as a legalistic approach, they found the (Knoxville campus') Policy to be difficult to navigate," the report said.
The report also noted "frustration" with a campus disciplinary process conducted under Tennessee Uniform Administrative Procedures Act after sexual assaults have been reported.
The process is unique to Tennessee and allows accused students to appear before an administrative law judge. But the process can lead to long delays that exceed the 60-day time frame recommended by the federal government for wrapping up student misconduct cases.
The lawsuit singled out the process for causing unnecessary delays that left accusers waiting, sometimes for months, for resolution while accused students remained on campus and, in the case of athletes, on the field.
Panelists recommended that the university system create a consistent way to evaluate whether accused students can continue to be involved in extra curricular activities during the protracted process.
Some UT campuses lag further behind
DiPietro said on Saturday that the report reflected positive progress that had been made at UT in recent years. But that progress had not been spread evenly across UT’s four main campuses.
The system-wide Title IX coordinator will also be charged with establishing a uniform bar for services on each campus, but DiPietro said some locations would need added funding. He singled out the Martin campus as a location where more staffers are needed to handle Title IX programming.
"Knoxville's come a long, long way in their programming," he said, later adding, “We have more to grow at some places than we do others.”
Reach Anita Wadhwani at awadhwani@tennessean.com. Follow her on Twitter @anitawadhwani.
Reach Adam Tamburin at 615-726-5986 and atamburin@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter @tamburintweets.
Members of the commission, who were paid $45,000 each for their work on the report, include:
- Stanley Brand, senior counsel with Washington, D.C.-based firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.
- Elizabeth Conklin, associate vice president, Title IX coordinator and Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator for the University of Connecticut.
- Janet Judge, president of Sports Law Associates LLC.
- Bill Morelli, a private attorney in Franklin.