STORRS Conn.—University of Connecticut President Susan Herbst on Wednesday gave an impassioned defense of the school’s response to alleged sexual assaults on campus, two days after a federal civil rights complaint was filed by seven women who say they were assaulted while attending the school.
The women allege school officials responded to their complaints with deliberate indifference or worse.
Herbst told the university’s Board of Trustees that she could not discuss the individual cases because of federal privacy laws, but said the school takes the issue very seriously and provides numerous resources to ensure that victims of sexual harassment and assault receive compassion, care and justice.
“The suggestion that the University of Connecticut, as an institution, would somehow be indifferent to or dismissive of any report of sexual assault is astonishingly misguided and demonstrably untrue,” she said.
Herbst outlined steps UConn has taken to become what she says is a national leader in the field of dealing with sexual harassment and assault. Those include mandatory student and employee training on how to prevent and report sexual assault; the formation of a task force on civility which is looking into issues such as how student alcohol and drug use contribute to the problem; and the establishment of a website that provides information on sexual assault and prevention and response.
She acknowledged the school failed to inform one woman when her alleged attacker was allowed to return to campus after an appeal of his expulsion, but said that occurred three years ago and the process has since been corrected.
Board chairman Larry McHugh said Herbst has the trustees’ full support.
