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March 27, 2015
Hello –
Much has happened since my last correspondence regarding Title IX. We continue to make significant progress, for which I have the many campus leaders to thank.
New Title IX Coordinators
Mikah K. Thompson, Esq. has been hired as the Title IX Coordinator and Director of Affirmative Action/Equal Employment Opportunity at UMKC. She began her work on February 9, 2015. Read more about Mikah here.
Ellen Eardley, Esq. has been appointed Title IX administrator and assistant vice provost at MU. She will begin her position on April 20, 2015. Read more about Ellen here.
Neil Outar has been appointed Director of Institutional Equity, Diversity & Inclusion and Deputy Title IX Coordinator at Missouri S&T. He began his work on January 20, 2015.
Welcome to the team!
New Title IX Policies
The new Title IX policies for Faculty as Accused and Staff as Accused were passed by the Board of Curators on February 5, 2015. You can find these policies here. Thanks to each of you for your thoughtful review and feedback to these policies.
Additionally, there are flowcharts outlining the policies for student or student organization as accused, staff as accused, and faculty as accused. You can find them here.
Title IX Strategic Investments
Each campus submitted Title IX funding proposals in early February. President Wolfe has announced additional investments with our goal of providing the necessary resources to prevent and address issues of sex discrimination, gender-based violence and mental health resources across our campuses.
Training
Equity Resolution Process Training:
The passage of new policies created new roles as well as the need for the appointment of key people to existing roles. These roles include HR Equity Officer, HR Equity Appellate Officer, and Investigator for Staff as Accused; and Equity Resolution Panelists, Investigator, Provost/Provost’s Designee, and Appellate Officer for Faculty as Accused.
Training for new hearing panelists, as well as appellate officers, will be held April 14-15, 2015, in Columbia.
Investigator Training:
Given that we have new policies, new appointments, and new hires because of strategic investments, we will have an additional training for investigators. We are still determining dates and will keep you informed.
Victim Intake & Advocacy Training:
In order to train both current and new employees involved with victim intake and advocacy, we will have this training later in the spring. The dates for this training are still being determined.
Clery Training:
As a result of our on-site campus visits, we have an opportunity to further enhance our protocols and practices as it relates to Clery reporting. We will have a one-day workshop with necessary personnel later this spring.
Climate Survey
A significant piece of our University commitment to becoming an exemplar of best practice in our Title IX efforts involves exploration of campus culture. The best way to get this information is to ask our students. We will be administering a climate survey to all students at UMKC, Missouri S&T, and UMSL. The Sexual Harassment and Gender-Based Violence Student Climate Survey will be administered by the Assessment Resource Center (ARC) for all UMKC, Missouri S&T, and UMSL students. This anonymous survey will be administered from April 2nd – April 30th.
The UMKC/S&T/UMSL survey is being administered in conjunction with the Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault & Sexual Misconduct, administered by the AAU for all MU students. The MU survey will be administered from April 6th – April 27th.
Both surveys target perceptions, understanding and prevalence of a number of issues related to sexual harassment and gender-based violence.
We are doing our best to make sure the UMKC/Missouri S&T/UMSL survey is aligned as much as possible with the AAU survey. Our goal is to collect data we can use as benchmark data to guide our efforts to become a national exemplar of best practice.
Phone App
The University of Missouri is currently exploring the use of a crisis/safety phone application, which includes campus alert tweets, information about emergency assistance options, contact lists for mental and physical health providers, and Title IX office information. The app will allow for configuration of campus-specific branding and information. We will continue to update you as this work continues.
On-site Visits
Our NCHERM consultants will continue to make visits to the campuses this spring. They will complete their final on-site visits for follow up on progress on implementation. Visits are noted on the Title IX Timeline, which can be found here.
Additionally, NCHERM consultant W. Scott Lewis will be visiting with athletics staff on each campus on the following days:
MU: May 13th
UMKC: May 19th
Missouri S&T: April 27th
UMSL: April 28th
Sincerely,
Deborah S. Noble-Triplett, Ph.D.
Assistant Vice President
University of Missouri System
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