OCR: PENN STATE Violated Rights Of Complainants And Respondents In Title IX Proceedings
Last week, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights sent a letter to Pennsylvania State University finding that the university had, in numerous ways, violated Title IX in its handling of complaints of sexual assault and misconduct. The findings letter was the culmination of a years-long OCR investigation into Penn State in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Through its investigation, OCR found: To this day there are serious inadequacies in how the University treats both complainants and respondents in cases of alleged sexual harassment that need correction in order to bring the University into compliance with Title IX.
As part of its investigation, OCR reviewed more than 300 case files involving reports of sexual harassment and assault at Penn State. It found numerous procedural errors that seriously damaged the right of both complainants and respondents to a fair process.
OCR also “reviewed litigation filed by individual students against the University in federal court alleging, among other things, that it violated Title IX in the University’s processing of complaints of sexual harassment.” Since 2015, there have been at least five such lawsuits brought against Penn State by accused students, alleging denials of due process. Three of those suits have resulted in rulings against the university, and another settled before any ruling could be issued.
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