Sexual violence on campus — and how faculty might respond to it — was the recurring topic during Thursday’s Faculty Council meeting.
“This is a very important issue,” said nursing professor Rebecca Johnson, who ran the meeting in place of council chairman Craig Roberts. “It’s a new day for us, for sharing our views.”
Dennis Miller, professor of psychological sciences and a faculty representative to the Intercampus Faculty Council, discussed how the university might treat cases of sexual misconduct allegations involving faculty.
Miller said [UM System President Tim Wolfe’s overhaul of Title IX relations earlier this year](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2014/9/3/wolfe-loftin-overhaul-title-ix-sexual-assault-poli/) has intentionally not yet changed much about how faculty misconduct is handled to allow IFC to “be the ones who are actively creating the procedures and policies for faculty in that realm.”
Miller said tenure provides a unique challenge when dealing with allegations of sexual misconduct by faculty.
“What if it’s a tenured faculty member?” he said. “How do we balance the needs of a person who accuses that tenured faculty member of misconduct, to have that be resolved quickly as Title IX requires, versus the protection of tenure?”
William Wiebold, professor of plant sciences and Fiscal Affairs Committee chairman, expressed concern that the faculty misconduct policy might treat tenure-track and non-tenure track faculty unequally.
“A truly bad person ought not to be protected by tenure, and a person that isn’t bad ought to have some protection, even if they’re not on tenure track,” he said.
John Gahl, professor of electrical and computer engineering, also asked whether a review board composed of faculty members might not be impartial when dealing with misconduct allegations involving other faculty.
“I’m a student,” Gahl hypothesized to the council. “I accuse this faculty member of harassment, and the university says, ‘Hey, we’re going to go get a group of the faculty member’s friends to decide whether or not they were really harassing you.’”
Johnson responded that the Title IX policy overhaul aims to remove all institutional bias and privilege from cases.
“I think that the times, they are moving toward not protecting any perpetrators of anything,” Johnson said. “So if somebody is a perpetrator, obviously it has to be adjudicated in a fair and balanced way for both sides.”
Tim Evans, professor of veterinary pathology and Student Affairs Committee chairman, handed out resources on Title IX and discussed faculty training on mandatory reporting and related issues.
“With respect to Title IX, I believe there are a lot of important steps being taken towards prevention (of sexual assault),” he said.
Evans also discussed the ongoing search for a permanent Title IX administrator to succeed Interim Title IX Coordinator Linda Bennett and how the change in titles might represent an evolution in MU’s handling of sexual assault cases.
“Linda Bennett is the Interim Title IX Coordinator. This will be the Title IX _administrator_,” he said. “So there’s a subtle difference there in the hope that, with a permanent person, there will be an increasing of the staff and supervisorial roles.”
Evans said MU will rely on a committee of administrators, faculty, staff and students, instead of hiring an outside search firm. He said the search committee aims to reduce the pool of initial applicants down to “three or four” top candidates and asked for input from the council.
“All of us need to get busy and be aware of individuals who might be stellar in that role,” Johnson said.
Evans also extolled the university’s [new Title IX website](http://title9.missouri.edu) for its accessibility and usefulness and encouraged council members to explore its resources.
“I do believe our Title IX website is very easy to get to,” he said. “I challenge you to go to almost any other university in the United States and try to do the same thing, because it won’t happen.”
Johnson discussed the immediacy and relevance of sexual assault prevention efforts, referencing the frequency of Clery releases detailing campus incidents.
“We want to be strong leaders in this whole initiative,” Johnson said. “We want to take the lead in doing a stellar prevention-type program.”
Members of the council discussed the various sexual assault prevention initiatives and programs on and near campus and how they might complement university initiatives.
Angela Speck, professor of astronomy and Diversity Enhancement Committee chairwoman, commended current student efforts to tackle sexual assault on campus. The “Enough is Enough” campaign, launched in September by the Missouri Students Association, is a valuable resource for faculty to join, she said.
“It’s not difficult to make all the connections that make it easier to do all this stuff,” Speck said.
Evans pointed to Wednesday’s “Missouri Men Say No More” campaign kickoff at the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence conference in Columbia, saying MU was “extremely well represented” at the event.
“We made a very public statement about our trying to address these issues,” he said.
Johnson said all groups on campus need to be involved in working to prevent sexual violence.
“This whole movement toward prevention and safety has to be en masse,” she said. “If we don’t engage everybody, I don’t think we’re going to be as impactful as we can be.”