Harvard Law School has agreed to change its sexual harassment policy, amid claims that it has inappropriately handled allegations of sexual assault and consistently violated Title IX. According to reports from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, the institution gave more rights to the accused students than to the alleged victims when looking into reports of sexual harassment.
The investigation into Harvard Law School’s conduct commenced back in 2010, with the investigation drawing to a close on Dec. 23, 2014. The primary ambition of the federal investigation was to determine whether the School had repeatedly violated Title IX, the gender equity law.
Harvard Law School spent a year trying to investigate and settle one particular allegation of sexual harassment. According to officials working for the Department of Education, the complainant was not allowed to participate in an appeal process, at which point a previous decision to have the accused dismissed from the School was reversed.
The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights recently announced that Harvard Law School’s policies failed to comply with Title IX, with the School not providing a “prompt and equitable response” to claims of sexual harassment. All in all, the OCR established that Harvard Law School had mishandled two complaints.
Meanwhile, an investigation into Harvard College remains ongoing. Harvard College is just one of 91 colleges that are being investigated for claims of sexual harassment and violence.
In light of recent findings, Harvard Law School will exercise the “preponderance of the evidence” standard, as opposed to using the “clear and convincing” evidence standard. According to the Education Department, the “preponderance of the evidence” standard is “… required by Title IX for investigating allegations of sexual harassment or violence.”
In a recent statement, entitled Harvard Law School Voluntary Resolution Agreement, the institution said it was committed to ensuring the campus remains free of sexual harassment and sexual violence. “As the conversation about sexual assault at colleges and universities spread to campuses across the nation, Harvard recognized that, like many peer institutions around the country, we could and should do more,” the statement continued.
Harvard says it has implemented new, University-wide policies to tackle harassment claims, along with a dedicated task force to investigate claims of sexual assault and acts of gender-based discrimination. The School has also introduced new procedures aimed at “… administering and processing Title IX complaints.”