A third Title IX investigation has been opened by the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights
Mariah Joyce
Editor in Chief
The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) has opened a third Title IX investigation at The College of Wooster. The complainants received official confirmation that their case had been accepted and would be investigated by the OCR on Nov. 15.
The supervising attorney on the case is Brenda Redmond, according to the letter notifying the complainants that their case had been accepted. In that letter, Redmond said that the case was in response to three complaints filed with the OCR on Aug. 8, 2016, about incidents which occurred during the 2015-16 academic year.
These complaints were:
1. The College’s Title IX Coordinator retaliated against [four] students after [they] opposed the College’s handling of sexual violence complaints, including by pursuing disciplinary action against [them].
2. The College failed to provide [four] students a prompt and equitable response to a Title IX grievance that was filed against [them].
3. The College failed to provide a method by which [four] students could file a complaint against the College’s Title IX Coordinator.
This investigation brings the total number of open OCR Title IX investigations of the College up to three. The first two investigations were opened in September of this year. The College is one of 212 post-secondary institutions currently being investigated for Title IX violations, according to the D.O.E.’s list.
In its letter accepting the case, the OCR reiterated that the opening of an investigation does not indicate that a Title IX violation has taken place, just that the matter bears further investigation. OCR also emphasized that throughout the investigation, its role is to be an impartial fact-finding party.
The College is currently working to improve its handling of Title IX complaints through two processes: a working group on sexual violence prevention and response and an ongoing search for a full-time Title IX coordinator. In an email to the campus community on Nov. 16, President Sarah Bolton said that the College hopes to have hired a full-time coordinator by the spring.
As for the two other open cases, at the completion of the investigation the D.O.E. will disclose whether it entered into an agreement with the institution to address the complaint or whether there was insufficient evidence of a Title IX violation.