A committee of the state’s Board of Regents approved uniform policies Wednesday for the way state colleges and universities handle student misconduct cases, despite objections from some Georgia Tech students that new policies don’t go far enough to protect sexual assault victims.
The policies cover cases and allegations involving sexual and other types of student wrongdoing that violates student conduct codes.
The new policies lay out guidelines for how investigations will be handled, the training required for investigators and other campus officials involved in adjudicating the cases and protections for students who are either victims or accused of violations.
Before the uniform policies, each school set its own procedures, within federal guidelines, that varied widely from campus to campus. The potpourri of rules led several students, their parents and lawyers representing them, to claim that the procedures were deeply flawed and violated their right to due process.
State Rep. Earl Ehrhart has challenged schools, particularly Georgia Tech to change the way it handles student conduct cases. Ehrhart, R-Powder Springs, has been critical of Tech, saying the institution has not fairly treated students accused of sexual assault and members of a fraternity accused of yelling racial slurs at a black student. The powerful state lawmaker has threatened to cut the school's state funding and has called for Tech's president, Bud Peterson, to resign.
Georgia Tech student Kate Napier said that type of “bullying” by Ehrhart has resulted in the “flawed” policies passed by the Regents committee.
“When I look at the policy I see an effort to make the reporting, investigating and decision-making process as cumbersome as possible to discourage victims of sexual assault from pursing student misconduct charges,” Napier, a member of the school’s Title IXers, advocacy group against sexual assault and sexual harassment, said after Wednesday’s committee meeting. “I think the environment for victims of sexual assault will be made much worse and will be less likely to step forward and receive the kind of support that they deserve.”
The full Board of Regents is expected to vote on the policies later Wednesday. If approved by the full board, the policies would take effect at all 29 institutions in the state's University System on July 1.
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