Gov. John Bel Edwards has signed a series of bills that aim to make higher education officials more accountable for reporting sexual harassment and abuse in the wake of systemic reporting failures at Louisiana State University.
Even before the bills were signed, the state’s commissioner for higher education, Kim Hunter Reed, said state universities would be moving ahead with reforms and training. In March, the Louisiana Board of Regents hired an attorney with Nelson Mullins LLP to take a wide-ranging review of state institutions’ policies and practices relating to Title IX, the federal statute that bans gender discrimination in education.
“We’re rewriting the state’s uniform policy on sex misconduct, and we’ll be hosting some trainings and such over the summer with all of the systems and campuses,” Meg Casper Sunstrom, Reed’s deputy commissioner for strategic communication, told the Louisiana Record.
Edwards signed a number of bills advanced by legislators who wanted to force universities to fire anyone who fails to adequately report, or who makes false reports, about power-based violence allegations. Other bills require state universities to post campus crime statistics on their websites and the Board of Regents to oversee the establishment of a power-based violence review panel.
At a recent Board of Regents meeting, attorney Nina Gupta of Nelson Mullins said universities are moving forward on bridging gaps and ironing out conflicts in their policies on Title IX and state statutes on power-based violence.
“We aim to be ready to welcome students to our campuses this fall with a totally compliant, totally effective policy in place,” Gupta said, indicating that the policies will include training requirements for higher-ed personnel.
To overcome mistakes of the past so that sexual abuse and harassment are effectively dealt with on campuses, universities need to create a culture of caring and compliance.
A Nelson Mullins memorandum to the Louisiana Board of Regents states that categories of students who ought to receive Title IX instruction should be broadened.
“This uniform approach will ensure that all categories of student populations, including Greek life, residential advisors, student-athletes, ROTC members, teaching assistants, student organization officers, graduate students, transfer students, etc., receive consistent Title IX sexual misconduct awareness and prevention training,” the memorandum says.