{"id":75639,"date":"2018-03-02T08:28:20","date_gmt":"2018-03-02T18:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=75639"},"modified":"2025-09-08T16:34:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T02:34:06","slug":"title-ix-compliance-review-of-uh-manoa-resolved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2018\/03\/02\/title-ix-compliance-review-of-uh-manoa-resolved\/","title":{"rendered":"Title <abbr title=\"nine\">IX<\/abbr> compliance review of <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa resolved"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 3<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/uh-student-steps.jpg\" alt=\"uh student steps\" width=\"676\" height=\"381\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-44340\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa and the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (<abbr>OCR<\/abbr>) have reached a voluntary resolution agreement (<abbr>VRA<\/abbr>) to resolve a Title <abbr title=\"Roman numeral nine\">IX<\/abbr> compliance review that began in 2013 and involved Title <abbr title=\"nine\">IX<\/abbr> cases from 2010 through 2016.<\/p>\n<p><abbr>OCR<\/abbr>\u2019s review found that <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa did not fully comply with the Title <abbr title=\"nine\">IX<\/abbr> federal law that prohibits sexual discrimination in any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. <abbr>OCR<\/abbr> also acknowledged that since the inception of the compliance review <abbr>UH<\/abbr> has already taken actions to proactively address many of its obligations under Title <abbr title=\"nine\">IX<\/abbr> through systemic changes to procedures, organizational structure and resources.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout the compliance review, <abbr>UH<\/abbr> worked collaboratively with <abbr>OCR<\/abbr>, making many improvements during the 4 years with the strong support of state lawmakers and the <abbr>UH<\/abbr> Board of Regents. <abbr>UH<\/abbr> has already improved its policies and dedicated additional resources, including starting up a systemwide Office of Institutional Equity and a Title <abbr title=\"nine\">IX<\/abbr> Office at <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa, to improve its ability to effectively respond to and support students and employees. By entering the <abbr>VRA<\/abbr>, <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa acknowledges there is still more to be done and commits to continue the important work of strengthening the university\u2019s institutional capacity to respond to allegations of sexual harassment and sexual violence.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We thank the Office for Civil Rights for its willingness to work with us as we continue to improve,&rdquo; said Interim <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa Chancellor and <abbr>UH<\/abbr> President <strong>David Lassner<\/strong>. &ldquo;We have made tremendous strides, and the federal review guided much of that work along the way. But it is an ongoing process, and ultimately this is not just about being compliant but doing what\u2019s right for our community to create a campus environment that is safe for all.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/titleix\/documents\/8200\/\">Voluntary Resolution Agreement<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The <abbr>VRA<\/abbr> identifies specific steps the university will take to resolve the issues identified, and <abbr>OCR<\/abbr> acknowledges that <abbr>UH<\/abbr> has already taken many steps toward completing the required actions. The five areas specified in the <abbr>VRA<\/abbr> along with the steps the university has taken or is taking to meet those requirements are:<\/p>\n<p>1. Review, revise and provide notice of its policies and procedures used to address sexual harassment, so they are consistent with Title <abbr title=\"nine\">IX<\/abbr> requirements, and conduct a comprehensive review of any published materials to ensure internal consistency.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In 2015, the university created the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/titleix\">Office of Institutional Equity<\/a> (<abbr>OIE<\/abbr>) to oversee and standardize <abbr>UH<\/abbr>\u2019s Title <abbr title=\"nine\">IX<\/abbr> and Violence Against Women Act compliance throughout the 10 campuses and provides resources, training, expertise and advocacy, including updating and strengthening policies and procedures.<\/li>\n<li>The university participated in a state legislative task force that assisted in passing 2016 legislation that mandated, among other items, Title <abbr title=\"nine\">IX<\/abbr> training for students and staff, a confidential advocate at each campus and ongoing campus surveys.<\/li>\n<li><abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa appointed a primary Title <abbr title=\"nine\">IX<\/abbr> coordinator and <a href=\"http:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/titleix\/\">opened a Title <abbr title=\"nine\">IX<\/abbr> office<\/a> in 2015 responsible for handling cases and inquiries in a timely manner. <\/li>\n<li>In 2015, the university <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2015\/09\/01\/uh-adopts-interim-policy-on-sex-discrimination-and-gender-based-violence\/\">updated its sexual harassment and violence policy<\/a> to apply the same standards and procedures systemwide and ensure a consistent institutional response across the 10 <abbr>UH<\/abbr> campuses. <abbr>OCR<\/abbr> has acknowledged that the university has already undertaken substantial revisions to its grievance procedure and has made improvements in case processing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>2. Provide training regarding revised policies and procedures to &ldquo;responsible employees,&rdquo; university employees and contracted persons who are directly involved in investigating and\/or resolving reports of sex discrimination for the university.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>As of December 2017, the university has <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2017\/08\/31\/new-online-student-titleix-training\/\">provided online Title <abbr title=\"nine\">IX<\/abbr> training<\/a> to 2,798 employees from the <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa campus and to 5,606 employees systemwide. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/titleix\/lawroom\/employees\">Online Title <abbr title=\"nine\">IX<\/abbr> training has been available to students and employees since 2017<\/a>. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>3. Conduct campus surveys relating to sexual harassment and sexual violence and report results to <abbr>OCR<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>On January 20, 2017, the university launched a comprehensive student campus survey on sexual harassment and gender-based violence. 6,311 students completed the survey.<\/li>\n<li>On January 8, 2018, the university <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2018\/01\/08\/survey-on-sexual-harassment-and-gender-based-violence\/\">released its comprehensive systemwide student campus survey report<\/a> on sexual harassment and gender-based violence.<\/li>\n<li>The university will continue to conduct campus surveys bi-annually.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>4.Submit to <abbr>OCR<\/abbr> documentation of its centralized system for tracking and recording complaints, reports, investigations, interim measures and resolutions of student, employee and third party conduct that may constitute sexual harassment or sexual violence.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The university has developed and is now implementing a centralized, homegrown record keeping system for use on all of <abbr>UH<\/abbr>\u2019s 10 campuses.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>5. Contact student complainants and student respondents who were involved in reports and complaints of sexual harassment and sexual violence, from August 2013, to October 2017, to provide them with the opportunity to request that the university review any specific concerns they may have about the processing of their reports or complaints.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa will begin reaching out to the parties in spring 2018 and expects to have the process completed by December 2018.<\/li>\n<li>The university plans to collaborate with <abbr>OCR<\/abbr> to ensure appropriate attempts to contact the referenced complainants and respondents are made. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><abbr>OCR<\/abbr> will monitor <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa until it completes its obligations under the <abbr>VRA<\/abbr>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/titleix\/documents\/8203\/\">The <abbr>OCR<\/abbr> Letter of Findings is available online<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa and the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights have reached a voluntary resolution agreement to resolve a Title <abbr title=\"Roman numeral nine\">IX<\/abbr> compliance review that began in 2013 and involved Title <abbr title=\"Roman numeral nine\">IX<\/abbr> cases from 2010 through 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1193],"tags":[1062,865,71,9,947],"class_list":["post-75639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-administrative","tag-office-of-institutional-equity","tag-title-ix","tag-uh-community-colleges","tag-uh-manoa","tag-uh-system","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75639"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":221585,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75639\/revisions\/221585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}