The University Senate on Wednesday voted to form a new senate task force on sexual misconduct and passed several changes to the UO Student Code of Conduct as part of an effort to strengthen all misconduct policies.
During the senate’s final meeting of the academic year UO President Michael Gottfredson also announced he has signed a new Academic Freedom policy approved by the senate, achieving his goal of strengthening the UO’s protections for faculty and employees. His announcement received applause from the crowd and the praise of new Senate President Robert Kyr, who thanked everyone who helped draft the policy. More information on the academic freedom policy can be found here.
But the majority of the Wednesday’s meeting focused on addressing sexual misconduct.
Senators approved formation of a UO Task Force to Address Sexual Violence and Survivor Support that will report to the senate next fall. To ensure experts on campus are included in the process, the task force will include two staff members from student affairs who provide services to students.
The senate also passed three changes to the code of conduct recommended by the student affairs office based on the Groves report commissioned by Vice President of Student Affairs Robin Holmes last fall. They include lowering the standard of evidence for student expulsions, extending the jurisdiction of the student conduct code beyond campus boundaries in cases of sexual misconduct and modifying the code to require explicit consent in all cases of sexual conduct.
The motion to lower the standard of evidence sparked lengthy debate among senators, code of conduct experts and a student. At issue was balancing the due process rights of accused students against the need to prevent threats to campus safety and set high standards for student conduct.
A student and several senators argued that with a life-altering penalty such as expulsion the university should require a higher standard of “clear and convincing evidence“ to prove wrongdoing. But others said the university should expect more from students than the bare minimum of acceptable behavior.
“This allows for a community to set higher standards, and many universities do this,” said Sen. Jane Cramer, a political science professor. “We can do this here and we should do this now.”
After considering sending the motion back to committee and having the higher standard apply only to sexual assault, the senate ultimately passed it for all expulsion cases. The senate did not have time to debate several other motions on the agenda, including additional changes to the student conduct code and a motion to add a multicultural course requirement.
Earlier in the senate meeting President Gottfredson provided a university update on a number of short-term initiatives to prevent and respond to sexual intimidation and violence.
“We are all talking about this issue, addressing it head on, and collectively working to find solutions, “ Gottfredson said. “Keeping the discussion front and center — acknowledging the problem, engaging in respectful discourse and bringing our collective expertise to the problem — these are critical steps toward enacting the kind of deep cultural change that must take place on our campus.”
Gottfredson said student affairs is in the process of adding two staff positions, in line with the recommendations of the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Violence, who will augment the UO’s support for survivors. The positions are a director of sexual violence response and support services to provide confidential support and advocacy to survivors, and the other is an equal opportunity specialist and Title IX investigator in affirmative action.
The president said he also is close to naming members to serve on an external review panel. He called for immediate changes to improve the campus climate before next fall and lauded the senate for taking action to amend the code of conduct.
In other action the senate also:
- Approved the curriculum report
- Announced University Senate election results and a run-off the week of June 2-6 to break three election ties
- Announced fall elections for Senate Budget Committee, IFS and COIA representatives
- Elected Randy Sullivan senate vice president/president-elect