President Steve Perez sent an email to students and faculty Monday morning about Title IX and discrimination, harassment and retaliation programs in response to the Cozen O’Connor Chico State report.
The report put forth many recommendations to the university including better communication plans, training changes, strengthening internal protocols and an integrated written process for initial assessment.
Alongside the Chico State specific report came the 2023 systemwide California State University O’Connor report which found that the data collected by the California State University Title IX offices was inconsistent and inefficient.
The Cozen O’Connor law firm stated, “These [Chico State specific] recommendations must be read together with the recommendations set forth in the Systemwide Report.”
The Chancellor’s Office approved Chico State’s implementation plan to address the O’Connor report this past February. This plan has led to the creation of an implementation team that consists of multiple subcommittees, each responsible for a small part of the changes being made.
The email drew attention to the Strengthening Internal Protocols Committee which, Perez stated, has made the following accomplishments thus far:
- Evaluated barriers to reporting and engagement by making online reporting more visible and following up potential reports with contact and resources
- Continued to separate support and advocacy functions from investigation
- Ensured supportive measures to complainants are well known as staff now provide 30 and 60 day updates to parties in the investigation
- Established multidisciplinary teams to strengthen campus collaboration, information-sharing and consultation to inform decisions
- Formalized post-Title IX-DHR disciplinary processes
- Mapped the case resolution process from reporting and intake to investigation and resolution
- In the process of developing a dashboard with support from the Division of Information Technology to track and share completed Title IX trainings and the number of individuals trained monthly
Other planned changes are aimed at improving communication and education about Title IX proceedings.
“All subcommittees will be continuing their work through 2024–25, with an emphasis on updating policies to reflect new regulations that will take effect August 1 and educating the campus community on those changes,” Perez stated in the email. “Our goal is to be transparent with the campus community in our progress to address the recommendations.”
The upcoming Academic Senate meeting on May 9 and the Staff Council meeting on May 14 will also address these updates and questions.
Jessica Miller can be reached at [email protected].
