On Campus

Office for Civil Rights attorneys hold first of 2 meetings on Title IX investigation at SU

Colin Davy | Assistant Photo Editor

Three U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights attorneys were at SU on Tuesday to get input from students and faculty about what they think Syracuse University could do to better handle cases of sexual assault, among other things. In the above photo, two of the three attorneys, Sandeep Randhawa, right, and Grace Kim, left, speak with meeting attendees.

By Sam Ogozalek

Syracuse University students and faculty members on Tuesday said there are a number of ways the university could better handle sexual assault issues.

Those included better training for faculty members responding to students who have reported sexual assault, more curriculum instruction for students about sexual assault on campuses and better communication between administrators, faculty and students about sexual assault issues.

All of that was brought up Tuesday at the first of two public meetings at SU regarding a Title IX investigation into the university for its handling of a sexual assault case. The investigation was opened in June in response to a Title IX complaint filed by a former student. The complaint alleges the university failed to “respond promptly or equitably” to a report of sexual assault.

Three attorneys from the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights — Amy Randhawa, Grace Kim and Joy Purcell —  led Tuesday’s meeting in Schine Student Center.

Throughout the meeting, the attorneys asked students and faculty general questions about their opinions on the university’s response to sexual assault and discrimination allegations. They also asked questions about how accessible resources and information about sexual assault are at SU. A second meeting will be held Wednesday at 9:30 a.m.



“We hope you will be honest and open with (the attorneys) in this very important discussion,” Rebecca Reed Kantrowitz, the senior vice president and dean of student affairs, said to the SU community members at the meeting. Kantrowitz is also one of the co-chairs on SU Chancellor Kent Syverud’s Task Force on Sexual and Relationship Violence.

The OCR attorneys said in an interview after the meeting that they do not know when the ongoing investigation into SU will be completed.

Margaret Susan Thompson, an associate professor of history and political science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, said she thought communication about the investigation has been lacking at times but added that it is getting better.

“This is something the university does care about, is working on and is a work in progress. It’s not like we’ve done everything we’re going to do and relax,” she said.

Some students also said they have encountered issues with the Department of Public Safety not responding to reports of assault off-campus. Other staff members and students praised SU for their system of handling assault reports and training staff to handle sexual assault.

Kate Corbett-Pollack, a graduate assistant at SU’s Disability Cultural Center, said she had positive encounters with SU officials when filing a report last spring and faced no problems with the process.

Corbett-Pollack declined to detail what the report was because she said she could not legally discuss it.

“I was actually really pleased with how the university handled it,” she said. “It wasn’t a violent incident, but it was something that was just not appropriate.”





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