Sept. 15, 2022
Dear Campus Community:
I would like to provide you with an update regarding the CSU systemwide Title IX evaluation, including actions taken and next steps, and to share information about CSUCI’s participation in that process.
As you may recall from Interim Chancellor Jolene Koester’s June 23, 2022 communication, the CSU Board of Trustees called for a systemwide assessment of Title IX policies and practices. Toward this end, the Board of Trustees hired the firm of Cozen O’Connor to review those policies and practices at individual campuses and the Chancellor’s Office. Members of this firm, lawyers who specialize in Title IX, are in the process of conducting comprehensive analyses of CSU compliance, care systems, and practices. Upon conclusion, they will be providing a report to the Board of Trustees with findings and recommendations. Each campus president will have the opportunity to debrief with Cozen O’Connor on campus-specific themes. I look forward to learning from them and through communication from the Chancellor’s Office their perceptions of our strengths and weaknesses, and to receiving data-informed recommendations for continuing improvement.
Interim Chancellor Koester has already pledged support for making systemic improvements in a number of ways, such as removing barriers to reporting, better educating constituents regarding their Title IX obligations and rights, addressing instances of retaliation, and ensuring access to support for survivors both on campus and off (e.g., survivor advocates, effective employee assistance programs, physical and mental health care services).
This systemwide commitment and our individual campus assessment provide our campus with an opportunity to own responsibility for our past, present, and future in this important area. While there are reasons for past delays and shortcomings (e.g., ongoing staff turnover, more demand for qualified Title IX professionals than availability), I make no excuses – particularly to those who have been personally impacted and who are still members of our campus community. I commit to our doing better as a University.
I am grateful to all who have worked hard to help our campus make progress over the past several months and wanted to provide a few relevant updates:
- The position of Executive Director of Title IX & Inclusion was filled in July 2022 by William Nutt, who previously served as CSUCI’s Manager of Institutional Equity & Deputy Title IX Coordinator. A search is currently underway to backfill the Manager position.
- The ADA Accessibility group based in the Title IX office is again active and has already put a reporting process in place to capture ADA and Accommodation issues across campus.
- More than 50 members of the campus community -- including faculty, staff, students, and administrators -- recently participated in interviews conducted by the Title IX attorneys from Cozen O’Connor to provide feedback on current practices and ideas for improvement at the system and campus levels. We requested a number of additional interviews with constituent groups on our campus that had not been included in the Cozen O’Connor initial request, bringing the total number of individual and group interviews from the original 14 to 28 in total, conducted from August 15 through September 9, 2022.
Each of these steps forward represents the University’s commitment to improvement; however, compliance training remains an issue. Our response rate as a campus for faculty, staff, and student completion of CSU-required Title IX training is less than impressive. I ask each of you to fulfill your responsibilities in this area; any critique of campus responsiveness to Title IX related issues rings hollow when individual accountability is lacking.
Throughout this process of deeper interrogation of our system and campus level accountability, we want to inform our community that we have received, and may also receive in the future, requests from news media outlets regarding investigations of incidents that violate the law and/or CSU Executive Orders 1096 and/or 1097. We are required, under the Public Records Act, to respond to such requests and to provide substantiated reports and findings, albeit with redactions to protect the privacy of complainants and to remove information about specific actions taken by the University against respondents. This fact does not lessen the trauma or adverse impact experienced by members of our community, and I ask for your consideration and compassion for these individuals. I also ask that we take responsibility for embracing the discomfort that improvement so often requires, and that each one of us does what we can to ensure a campus culture of care and Title IX compliance.
I strongly encourage all members of our campus community to utilize the resources and information included below and to reach out to william.nutt@csuci.edu with questions or needs related to Title IX & Inclusion.
Sincerely,
Richard Yao, Ph.D.
President