Yale University Releases Report of Campus Sexual Misconduct Complaints

In late January, Yale University publicly released a report on student and faculty sexual harassment complaints filed between July and December of 2011.  The report comes amidst an ongoing Department of Education (DOE) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) investigation into Yale administration’s possible mishandling of sexual harassment, assault and gender discrimination grievances.  Tasked with examining violations of Title IX which prohibits sex discrimination at institutions receiving federal funds, the OCR opened its probe in March 2011 on 16 students’ complaints of a “sexually hostile environment” at the school.

The recent report describes 52 complaints, including 14 sexual assault allegations, and action taken by Yale’s police force, Title IX coordinators and the University-Wide Committee on Sexual Misconduct, formed just a month after the OCR filing.   The majority of complainants opted to pursue informal resolutions, which ranged from restricting harassers’ contact with alleged victims to training and counseling involved students or faculty on “appropriate professional conduct.”  In one case, a graduate student accused of stalking and threatening a classmate ended up withdrawing in lieu of discipline, and in a case of verbal harassment, the University removed a faculty member from his teaching duties.

In response to the release, Business Week quoted President Richard Levin with, “The number of complaints of sexual misconduct brought forward and outlined in the report is a matter of deep concern. […] Even though only a very small fraction of our campus population is alleged to be violating our policies, our aspiration must be to raise the bar so that no one believes that sexual misconduct is acceptable and all act accordingly.”

As early as fall 2010, Yale began taking steps to improve campus environment and the administration’s response to harassment charges.  In December 2010, the school’s Task Force on Sexual Misconduct Education and Prevention issued a report to college dean Mary Miller emphasizing the need for accessible information and referral services as well as better harassment prevention training for students, faculty and staff.  The report also recommended the formation of “a standing committee to evaluate Yale’s sexual misconduct education, intervention, and response strategies.”  It’s unclear if the University-Wide Committee on Sexual Misconduct, launched in early 2011, assumed these responsibilities along with investigatory authority.

Debra Katz, a founding partner of Katz, Marshall and Banks and sexual harassment law expert, said, “We commend the [Department of Education] Civil Rights office for fulfilling its mandate to address sex discrimination in the education context.  Our economy depends not just on well-educated workers but on assurances that men and women can freely pursue their career goals in safe and supportive environments.”