Order mandates the responsibility of all university employees to report allegations of sexual harassment and assault perpetrated on students
COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ System President Tim Wolfe today issued an executive order designed to strengthen the university’s reporting policies under Title IX, helping to promote the University of ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥’s four campuses as environments where students, faculty and staff are safe and secure. Wolfe’s Executive Order 40 will supplement the university’s nondiscrimination policies by making it clear that every university employee (unless expressly excluded by this policy) has an obligation to report sexual harassment (including sexual violence) perpetrated against students to the appropriate Title IX Coordinator.
The university has numerous non-discriminatory policies in place that include reporting obligations. The purpose of today’s executive order is to clarify the obligation of employees to report information about sexual harassment and sexual assault when perpetrated on a student, how to report and to whom, how a report will be processed and how requests for confidentiality will be handled.
“In January, I directed the chancellors to lead comprehensive reviews of the resources, policies and practices on their respective campuses in terms of sexual assault education, prevention and reporting, as well as mental health services,” Wolfe said. “Although the task force I established is currently evaluating those many resources, I did not want to wait for the recommendations from the task force to clarify what reporting obligations are for now. It is imperative that employees know what their obligation is now, because the safety and security of the students on our four campuses is our absolute priority.”
The sexual assault and mental health services task force created by Wolfe will be reviewing the executive order and the reporting provisions contained within, and will consider any necessary revisions or further clarifications. President Wolfe has pledged additional resources from the UM System budget to help cover the costs of any required enhanced training for university employees due to this executive order.
The executive order can be accessed at: https://umsystem.edu/ums/rules/collected_rules/personnel/ch330/330.062_title_ix_policies_and_reporting
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Reviewed 2014-04-08