In its conclusion of a system wide-review of California State University (CSU) Title IX, law firm Cozen O’ Connor will share its findings in a meeting mid-May, according to a message sent by Vice Chancellor for Human Resources Leora Freedman.
Title IX is the U.S. federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools and other education programs.
Following the conclusion, each university will form an implementation team led by the campus’ Title IX coordinator with student, faculty and staff stakeholders.
“After such time as the team learns of Cozen’s recommendations for our campus, we will create a plan aimed at implementing Cozen’s various suggestions and recommendations,” Cal Poly’s Title IX coordinator Maren Hufton wrote in an email sent out to the campus community on April 6.
In response to the mishandling of sexual harassment reports by former Fresno State Vice President for Student Affairs Frank Lamas, the CSU Board of Trustees hired Cozen O’Connor to review the Title IX systems of each CSU campus.
The review process involved the Cozen O’Connor team sending out an anonymous online survey and visiting CSU campuses to receive feedback from communities in January.
The survey received 18,000 responses, according to the email.
Findings will be presented to the CSU Board of Trustees on May 24 to 26, with a broadcast livestream available on the Board of Trustees page to those interested. Shortly after, a written report will be released.
“Given the commonality of observations across most of our universities, and the need for a significant and coordinated response, Cozen O’Connor’s recommendations for achieving the CSU’s goals will require the Chancellor’s Office to provide significantly more (and different) support to university Title IX, DHR and employee relations operations,” Freedman wrote. “We stand ready to do that.”