The University System of Maryland Board of Regents approved June 19 amendments to its sexual misconduct policy on Saturday in response to a recent state law requiring system institutions to broaden their reporting of misconduct incidents.
The law, passed during the last General Assembly legislative session, mandates that system institutions conduct sexual assault climate surveys every other year, summarize misconduct cases and their outcomes and develop agreements with local law enforcement and rape crisis centers to refer cases and cooperate while investigating them.
Federal law requires colleges and universities to record sexual assault statistics under the Clery Act, though such crime reports include only the date of the crime, its general location and the date of the complaint. Officials said the amended system policy aims for a greater understanding of sexual assault on state campuses.
Many system schools already have begun developing campus surveys, and a few have piloted surveys used by other institutions, said Joann Boughman, university system vice chancellor for academic affairs. The state Higher Education Commission also has named a workgroup to create a statewide survey, she added.
“I expect what will happen is that there will be a core of questions that we will ask all of our campuses to ask and then allow each one of the campuses to expand and adapt the questionnaire if they want to on their own campuses,” Boughman said. “The core questions will meet the requirement of the state statute and will be in compliance with what we believe will be coming out as a federal level … in the next couple of years.”
Another amendment to the system’s policy grants amnesty for violations of alcohol and drug policies to students who report sexual misconduct incidents or serve as witnesses if the violation was related to the incident and did not place others at risk.
While the state’s bill originally called for a “free and open” amnesty policy, Boughman said the system wanted to ensure it could require students to undergo substance abuse counseling. The final legislation included the language requested by the system, she said.
Catherine Carroll, this university’s Title IX officer, said the university has begun developing its own sexual assault climate survey. She will also work with the Higher Education Commission to develop the broader statewide survey for use by other system institutions, she said.
“I would venture to say that they’ll be looking to us as sort of the flagship institution to see what we come up with because of the expertise that we have in my office,” Carroll said, “and how we would want to see something like this be utilized so that it’s actually meaningful instead of just turning widgets.”
Though the survey will include core questions each year it is administered, Carroll stressed the importance of looking beyond the incidence rates of sexual assault and focusing on students’ grasp of the issue with additional questions that go beyond simply checking off boxes.
“There’s some people who are very sophisticated in their understanding of this issue, perhaps intellectually, but maybe don’t actually know how that translates into sexual relationships,” Carroll said. “Or there’s people who think they get it all, but then when they start drinking, it’s like all bets are off. So what’s important about the climate survey is to sort of tap into what those experiences are and what those understandings are so that you leverage your learning strategies … to address those issues in a more targeted, effective way.”
Carroll has formed a workgroup of university officials to help craft the university’s survey questions, which will be vetted by student groups in the fall. She aims to distribute the survey — designed to take 15 minutes or less to complete — in the spring semester, she said.
University President Wallace Loh said the university should focus on a careful and appropriate survey rather than rushing to be a leader in responding to sexual assault.
“We should do whatever is right,” Loh said. “If what we are doing is sound and prudent then we should be a leader. But we shouldn’t lead if we aren’t going in the right direction. I think coming up with an appropriate climate survey questionnaire is very, very important. This is not an easy task.”
Carroll said the university is also drafting a memorandum of understanding with CARE to Stop Violence and the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Center at Prince George’s County Hospital to better coordinate victim services. The Title IX office plans to reach out to Prince George’s County Police to develop an MOU as well.
“We’re still in the early stages of sexual misconduct reporting processes, and that balance we’re trying to reach is, we want to know what’s going on on the campuses so that we can address where there are issues, but we don’t want to do any surveying or questioning that will in fact deter individuals from reporting,” Boughman said. “And that can sometimes be a very delicate balance.”
