OT - Federal Office to Review Penn State’s Handling of Sexual-Violence Reports
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is investigating whether Pennsylvania State University’s handling of allegations of sexual violence committed by students or staff members is in compliance with federal law, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.
The office’s review, under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, a federal law that bars gender discrimination at institutions that receive federal funds, will examine university policies and whether Penn State has responded appropriately to complaints. The review was triggered by a sharp increase in reported forcible sex offenses in the university’s own reports of crime data, Catherine Lhamon, the department’s assistant secretary for civil rights, said in a statement quoted by the newspaper.
The review is independent of other investigations regarding Penn State’s handling of allegations involving Jerry Sandusky, the former assistant football coach who was convicted in 2012 of sexually assaulting children...
January 29th, 2014 at 12:11 PM ^
this all sort of ties back in with the Russlyn Ali Title IX Directive issued on 4-April-2011.
We're not alone among Universities in this regard, but PSU was almost definitely in violation of Title IX prior to 2011.
January 29th, 2014 at 12:41 PM ^
The next time someone associated with Penn State has consensual sex with be the first, apparently.
January 29th, 2014 at 12:41 PM ^
I understand Title IX bars gender discrimination, but does it mention discrimination against lesbians?
Their former women's basketball coach, Rene Portland, had a very open policy against lesbians. She did not allow lesbians on her team, was very proud of that, and was able to bypass the university's own policy against discrimination...until she had a couple losing seasons in a row. She resigned (or was forced out) in 2007.
Would her tenure and discriminative policies be part of this investigation?
January 29th, 2014 at 12:54 PM ^
"With a flip of his pen, Obama added gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people to the list of Americans granted extra protections under federal law, taking a step closer, he says, towards a more perfect union."
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/politics/2009/October/Gays-Now-a-Protected-Class-of-People-under-New-Law/
January 29th, 2014 at 3:25 PM ^
When said coach whom I've never heard of before was still a coach.
January 29th, 2014 at 12:56 PM ^
Probably not, unless she was sexually assaulting lesbians. Although this investigation may expand once they start digging.
January 29th, 2014 at 3:54 PM ^
Somehow responded to the wrong person so I'll just say Go blue
January 29th, 2014 at 12:54 PM ^
I can't say I'm shocked by this. Penn State has a history of not self-reporting anything that would make them look bad. For instance, I think the last time they self-reported to the NCAA pre-Sandusky was in 1985.
January 29th, 2014 at 2:30 PM ^
You can't have a successful "Grand Experiment" if you're shooting holes in your own facade.
January 29th, 2014 at 1:00 PM ^
Pressing ever-more attention on the issue of the Department of Education Civil Rights Division's active involvement in these cases on individual campuses.
January 29th, 2014 at 1:02 PM ^
s/
January 29th, 2014 at 3:18 PM ^
January 29th, 2014 at 3:55 PM ^
January 29th, 2014 at 4:08 PM ^
...the point of telling "stories", to keep things alive.
January 29th, 2014 at 5:15 PM ^
I'm curious to know if anything is happening at MSU regarding the rape report made by a student against two freshman basketball players from a few years ago. I believe it was the year after Gibbons was accused.
In that case, the victim was cooperative, the police recommended prosecution and the statements of one of the players corroborated the victim's account. According to the new regulations which all public schools now have to comply with, that case now has to be re-opened and investigated by the school.
It will be interesting to see if other schools suddenly start conducting hearings on cases that were rejected by prosecutorial agencies.