Responding to student complaints, the University has significantly reimagined its sexual assault policy and procedures.
The Office of the Dean of Students has drafted a new Sexual Misconduct Policy and has made various changes to the judicial process for sexual assault cases. The most significant change, administrators said, is that the size of the judicial panel for such cases has been reduced from five people to three.
Dean of Students Sue Wasiolek said the decision to cut the panel size was intended to make adjudication less intimidating and "more humane."
"From the feedback that we've gotten from students involved in the process, the process has been very difficult and painful," she said. "Given the nature of the allegations, given the sensitivity of the information, given the difficulty of these cases - not only for the alleged victim but also for the accused - the sense was involving fewer people in hearing the case was actually in everyone's best interest."
The panel will be comprised of two faculty or staff members and one student. As in previous years, all panelists will come from the Undergraduate Judicial Board.
Associate Dean for Judicial Affairs Stephen Bryan acknowledged the potential trade-off in reducing the number of people involved in deciding a student's fate. "There's always concern that because it's only three instead of five, you're not going to have as many voices hearing [the case]," he said.
He added that a unanimous vote would now be required on decisions of guilt and major punishment. The previous five-person judicial process required only a simple majority.
The University also revisited its sexual assault policy statement and reworked it into an expanded philosophical and informational text called the Sexual Misconduct Policy. "Sexual exploitation" is now included as one form of "misconduct," along with the previously banned activities of nonconsensual touching or rape.
The statement discusses the role of alcohol and drugs in sexual misconduct, cites some real-world examples of sexual misconduct, gives information on how allegations are resolved by the Undergraduate Judicial Board, outlines the rights of both the accuser and the accused in such a case and includes a brief description of support services and resources.
None of the above items were included in the original sexual assault policy, set to expire this summer. "We felt our current policy was incomplete," Bryan explained.
Over the course of this year, a committee comprised of students, administrators and faculty members met regularly to discuss changes to the way sexual assault is addressed at the University. Bryan methodically analyzed between 25 and 30 other schools' policies and procedures as part of an effort to ascertain the best course of action.
Although Bryan said the process of revising the policy and procedures was "a very emotional and draining experience for everyone involved," he expressed satisfaction with the results. "We're sending a clear signal that the University takes this issue very seriously, and sexual assault is not going to be tolerated on this campus," he said.
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