Last week UT-Austin announced its acceptance of the Husch Blackwell law firm‘s second round of policy recommendations for the university’s response to sex discrimination, including a structural reorganization of UT’s Title IX operations. Title IX is the federal civil rights law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity.
Husch Blackwell – hired by UT last fall to conduct a review of the university’s sexual misconduct policies – delivered its first round of recommendations to then-UT President Greg Fenves earlier this year. In March, Fenves accepted those policy changes, which focused on disciplinary consequences for faculty and staff found guilty of sexual misconduct (see “UT Pledges a Harder Line on Sexual Misconduct,” News, March 6).
With the new round of policy changes, the university will expand responsibilities and resources for UT’s Title IX coordinator, in addition to improving prevention and training programs concerning sex discrimination – which UT defines as a broad range of behaviors including sexual harassment, sexual assault, interpersonal violence such as domestic and dating violence, stalking, and sexual exploitation. The university also aims to better provide support to those harmed by sex discrimination, to centralize the investigation and adjudication of discrimination claims, and to create a restorative justice program designed to resolve disputes over equity and inclusion and bring parties to mutually agreed resolutions.
“These changes, along with the revised policies from the first set of recommendations, are designed to help those who experience sex discrimination receive better support and become more aware of university resources,” said interim UT President Jay Hartzell in a July 8 update posted to the university sexual Misconduct Working Group’s website.
The policy overhaul was spurred by protests organized by the Coalition Against Sexual Misconduct, a student-led group advocating for change after students realized some faculty members accused of sexual misconduct were still teaching. Of the second round of recommendations, Kaya Epstein, a rising sophomore and CASM member, told us, “It’s exciting to see the university make these commitments to greater things; particularly, the restorative justice program, if implemented correctly, could really change the game for survivors at UT.” But in order for the program to deliver the justice or healing survivors seek, she said, it will be up to UT to make sure its efforts are truly restorative, not just performative.
“President Hartzell uses the words ‘equity and inclusion,'” said Epstein, “and restorative justice is a lot more than that. It has to address the problem and repair the harm depending on the individual needs of the survivor. Not every sexual misconduct case is going to be the same, and not every survivor will want or need the same things, so UT is going to have to really invest in this program and talk to experts and talk to students, and make sure they’re asking the community what they need out of this program.”
This article appears in July 17 • 2020.