With one out of five female college students and one in 33 male college students suffering rape during their academic career and only 10 percent of those sexual assaults getting reported, according to the National Institute of Justice, two firms are working to discourage the number of attacks and increase the likelihood of reporting these crimes.
The Freeh Group, a global risk management firm, and Pepper Hamilton LLC, a multi-practice national law firm, produced a webinar titled “Investigating and Resolving Sexual Assaults on Campus.” The one-hour-long web presentation is available online.
In 2011, the roadmap for handling sexual violence from school districts to universities was the “Dear Colleague Letter” from the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR). The letter refers to Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments and the 2001 Revised Sexual Harassment Guidance, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs or activities operated by institutions that receive federal financial aid. Types of sexual discrimination forbidden by Title IX include acts of sexual harassment, sexual assault, sexual battery and sexual coercion.
Today, the Freeh Group and Pepper Hamilton webinar incorporates information from the Dear Colleague Letter. The webinar offers guidance to educational institutions regarding the prevention of sexual harassment and the process of investigation and resolution. The webinar includes in its definition of sexual harassment threats, intimidation, stalking, rape, cyber harassment or exploiting vulnerabilities or incapacitation. The Dear Colleague Letter and the webinar don’t add requirements to Title IX, but each explains how the OCR determines if a school receiving federal financial aid is meeting its legal obligations.
The U.S. government also is involved with trying to end the national problem of campus sexual assaults. President Barack Obama signed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) on March 7. The bill contains a provision called the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act, which requires institutions of higher education to develop and communicate their policies on dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, and domestic violence and increases reporting requirements of these incidents. The bill requires colleges to collect and disclose information about sexual assault and to update and expand domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking services on campuses.
Participants in the webinar are Moderator, Matthew Dolan, managing director, Freeh Group International Solutions LLC, and former general counsel for the United States Naval Academy, and panel members John K. DiPaolo, deputy assistant secretary for policy for the U.S. Department of Education; Gina Maisto Smith, a partner with Pepper Hamilton LLP and former sex crimes prosecutor from the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office; and Angelo A. Stio III, also a partner with Pepper Hamilton LLP.
