Campus Sexual Misconduct Investigation Trainings Announced

MALVERN, Pa., Sept. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Center for Higher Education Risk Management (NCHERM) announces a series of Campus Sexual Misconduct Investigation Trainings to be held in November 2010. NCHERM and ACPA co-sponsored three national Institutes on Sexual Misconduct in July of 2010 attended by over 300 college and university administrators across the country. One of the clear needs emerging from these events was a training program addressing the creation and operation of an effective investigation model for campus sexual misconduct, including sexual assault and harassment. NCHERM has designed the upcoming events to address this need for both student and employee-related misconduct.

The Investigation Trainings will be divided into two thematic sections. In the morning, participants will focus on the question of how to develop or refine the right model. The afternoon session will focus on the training skills investigators need and will finish with a case study to deploy those skills. Three of the foremost nationally known experts on this subject, NCHERM partners Brett A. Sokolow, Saundra K. Schuster and W. Scott Lewis, will serve as trainers for these events.

Why Is This Training Needed Now?

For years, campuses have sought models of resolution for campus sexual misconduct complaints that provide fairness, balance, and a measure of satisfaction with the fairness of the process for the participants. We've tried adversarial hearings, administrative hearings, shuttle diplomacy, mediation, restorative justice, and hybrids of each of these. For the most part, these approaches to addressing sexual misconduct have been ineffective because we're trying to fit campus sexual misconduct into a student conduct/discipline framework like hazing, a roommate conflict, or some similar developmental challenge.

Campus sexual misconduct is more accurately seen not as a conduct issue, but as a civil rights/ discrimination matter. We need to take a page from HR and create a civil rights investigation model for addressing campus sexual misconduct. Civil rights investigations are not police-led investigations, and are not the same as investigating student conduct violations. They require a very specific, highly specialized skill-set. But, where do you to get the training you need on how to develop, implement and operate a civil rights investigation model for campus sexual misconduct? This event is designed for you.

This training will benefit you, whether you work in student affairs or student conduct and need a new model, or work in campus law enforcement or HR, and need to sharpen your civil investigation skills. In fact, anyone investigating any type of civil rights complaint will benefit from this training, including those investigating hate crimes, gender bias, racial, religious, ethic, and other discriminatory acts against any group or protected class. Prosecutors, sex crimes investigators, magistrates, victim advocates and judges are welcome too. We'll address the confluence of campus, civil and criminal processes and how we can all do our jobs cooperatively and collaboratively without obstructing each other.

For an outline of the content and to register, visit: http://www.ncherm.org/webinars.html#UML

The three, one-day events will be held at:

• University of Massachusetts Lowell in Lowell, MA on November 2nd, 2010
• Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA on November 9th, 2010
• The University of Colorado -- Boulder in Boulder, CO on November 15th, 2010
• Additionally, the University System of Georgia will be hosting three events for system campuses in December 2010. Outside registration is not accepted.
• An abbreviated version of this training will be provided on October 14th, 2010 at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA. Please check the NCHERM website for details.

For more information, please visit http://www.ncherm.org or contact NCHERM Client Relations Coordinator Samantha Dutill at (610) 993-0229 or [email protected]

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SOURCE National Center for Higher Education Risk Management