MICHIGAN’S New Approach to Prevent Campus Assaults. Independent Off Campus Centers to Review/Investigate
In ongoing efforts to strengthen Michigan’s leadership role in combating campus sexual assault, Gov. Rick Snyder and First Lady Sue Snyder today announced that a workgroup of experts will help provide a framework of best practices for preventing assault and a model to pilot regional centers to investigate reports of sexual misconduct. “To help keep our college students safe and ensure reports of sexual assault are being handled swiftly and appropriately on all campuses, we are going to pilot independent, regional centers to review and investigate reports of assault,” Gov. Rick Snyder said. “We have a tremendous network of experts in Michigan, and I look forward to using their expertise to help us create a new approach that ensures reports of sexual assault are handled the right way.” Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has similarly suggested the concept of regional centers that could focus on investigating campus assault cases. DeVos is in the process of retooling guidelines for how campuses should handle such reports, and she laid out a few ideas last September, but the department’s Office for Civil Rights is still crafting its framework which will go before the public for comment before it’s finalized.
