USC hires Title IX experts to review sexual harassment policies and conduct a survey
The University of South Carolina has hired a law firm to review its sexual harassment and sexual assault policies and to conduct a survey about misconduct on campus.
USC President Robert Caslen described the law firm, Cozen O’Connor, as “nationally recognized for its expertise in Title IX,” according to a letter to students and employees Tuesday. USC expects to work with Cozen O’Connor throughout the summer and fall, Caslen said in the letter.
Title IX is the federal law that bans discrimination by sex in education.
The firm will have two main jobs on campus. One will be to conduct a survey and the other will be to “conduct a comprehensive review of existing systems surrounding interpersonal violence and assist the university in strengthening those systems to ensure an environment free of discrimination and harassment,” Caslen said in the letter.
The survey seeks feedback from students, alumni, parents and employees on the resources for addressing and preventing sexual harassment and sexual assault available on campus, according to the online survey. The survey, which promises to keep individual student responses anonymous, also asks if a the student, employee, etc. ever experienced, reported or was aware of sexual harassment or assault. Cozen O’Connor will not send personally identifiable information to USC, Caslen said in the letter.
This is the latest fallout from a sexual harassment scandal that broke following an article in The State newspaper and several lawsuits outlined allegations that USC failed to respond to reports of sexual harassment.
After the allegations became public in March, around 100 USC students protested the university’s handling of the cases and called for employees accused of sexual harassment to be fired, The State previously reported. Caslen promised to overhaul the university’s sexual harassment policies by adding an independent Title IX coordinator, creating a Sexual Harassment, Sexual Misconduct, and Interpersonal Violence Office and forming a committee to review cases of alleged sexual misconduct before the university rules on a complaint.
Most recently, Caslen announced the university would be conducting a legal review on four cases of alleged sexual harassment.