Five More Universities Under Investigation

The Department of Education announced today that it has opened five additional investigations into  campuses policies and practices surrounding sexual violence, bringing to 60 the previous tally of 55 that had been announced by the Department earlier this month.  The five institutions are: University of Akron, the University of Alaska system, University of Delaware, Elmira College in New York, and Cisco Junior College in Texas.

Huffington Post had earlier reported about a complaint filed about Akron, which contained allegations that that its sexual assault policies were copied from another school's and, as a result, contained references to offices that did not even exist at the university. That complaint also charged the university with delay and careless investigation practices. Otherwise, we know little about the specific nature of these investigations, such as whether they were initiated by a complaint or were undertaken by the agency's own initiative. 

HuffPo is keeping track of all of the sexual assault-related Title IX investigations and pending complaints on a handy Google map. 

UAA Investigation Reveals Locker Room Disparity

The University of Alaska-Anchorage has announced plans to renovate athletic facilities to create two additional locker rooms that would provide more space to female athletes. An internal investigation into concerns the athletic department's gender equity revealed that due to the men's basketball and hockey teams currently each have their own locker rooms and individual lockers for each player, which contributes to an overall disparity in which 57% of male athletes have individual lockers compared to 13% of female athletes and in which male athletes averaged 11 square feet of locker room space compared to seven square feet per woman.

UAA agreed to conduct the investigation after an anonymous individual filed a complaint with Office for Civil Rights; OCR has accepted UAA's report and plan of action, obviating the need for further investigation on this issue. UAA is still in the process of investigating and reporting on the other disparities raised in the complaint, which related to the quality of coaching and access to medical training.

I was disappointed that the article about the locker room findings does not quote UAA's athletic director. As you may recall from our prior post about this complaint, he was shocked (shocked!) at the suggestion that the university discriminated against female athletes. He said, "This complaint is mind-boggling to me. To tell the truth, I can't wait for them [OCR] to come up here....The idea that we are disadvantaging our women athletes is absolutely ridiculous." Is his mind still boggled, or is he getting his head around the fact that discrimination in fact occurs?

UAA gets an extension

University of Alaska-Anchorage was prepared for a cantankerous battle with OCR over a gender equity complaint filed anonymously in the summer of 2008. Athletic director Steven Cobbs was not too pleased with the complaint (and a pending OCR investigation) which he thought was groundless. (The specifics--vague as they are--of the complaint can be found in the above link.)
But OCR has given UAA until May to complete its own internal investigation of gender equity including a plan to address inequities that must be implemented by August 2009.
We here at the Title IX Blog have a certain, shall we say, healthy skepticism when it comes to internal investigations, but we know times are tough and Alaska is a long way away (it appears the Seattle office is doing the investigation). And given Cobbs's initial utter disbelief that his department could possibly be in violation, that skepticism remains. The internal investigation team will, of course, be comprised of people both inside and outside of athletics.
I hope they seek a little guidance though. Perhaps Valerie Bonnette's guide, or Bonnette herself, or heck, I would even head out to Alaska to help out--just send me a plane ticket and some shearling-lined boots and I am there.

Does OCR have an Alaska office?

Hope so, because they received a Title IX complaint about the University of Alaska, Anchorage this past summer. The complainant(s) remains anonymous for now and the athletic department is incredulous.
Says Athletic Director Steve Cobb:
"This complaint is mind-boggling to me. To tell the truth, I can't wait for them to come up here....The idea that we are disadvantaging our women athletes is absolutely ridiculous."
This is despite the fact that Cobb admits that the locker room situation is problematic. Women's teams, six of them. share 2 locker room, while men's basketball has their own as does men's hockey, with the three remaining men's sports (skiing, track, and cross country) sharing one locker room. A new sports complex currently in the design phase will remedy that particular problem, but not for at least five years. There are two other aspects of the complaint: access to quality coaching, and access to medical trainers and other medical personnel.
One doesn't hear a lot about the issue of quality coaching at the collegiate level and it will be interesting to see the specifics of this part of the investigation.
The specifics of the trainer situation is also interesting. Cobb insists that the decision is based on risk rather than gender with a trainer attending every men's hockey practice and game. But gymnastics, also a high risk sport, does not get a trainer because the team practices off-site and thus sending a trainer would present time issues. I don't think time constraints are going to prove to be a viable excuse.