Education
Dartmouth Rolls Out Sexual Harassment Plan After Seven Women Filed Suit
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Dartmouth College announced Thursday it will roll out a sexual harassment plan that aims to revise and clarify sexual misconduct policies.
The Ivy League university’s announcement follows after seven women sued the New Hampshire school in November over allegations that three professors fostered drunken environments, which encouraged sexual assault. Two of the professors resigned and one retired in 2018.
“Powerful accounts of sexual misconduct and the surfacing of painful memories have had a profound effect on us all,” university President Philip Hanlon wrote in the announcement. “While change does not come easily for any institution, and there are no easy solutions, the stories that brave members of our community have shared strengthen our resolve to ensure that our learning environment is safe and inclusive for all of its members.”
The Campus Climate and Culture Initiative (C3I) will be the third installment in a set of plans aimed at fostering an “equitable environment.” C3I specifically addresses sexual relation policies between faculty and students.
The plan will require Dartmouth employees, grad and postdoctoral students to go through mandatory Title IX training. Grad students will also have access to multiple advisers. The school plans to set aside additional resources to hire up to 12 under-represented tenure-track faculty over five years as well.
The attorneys for the plaintiffs said in a joint statement they support the school’s plan, but believe it is “long overdue,” Inside Higher Ed reported.
“Until Dartmouth commits to making the women whose ‘courage’ Hanlon claims to ‘admire’ full partners in crafting and implementing reforms, each new ‘comprehensive initiative’ will continue to miss the mark,” the attorneys said, according to Inside Higher Ed.
The university launched two other plans in 2015 and 2016, which addressed high-risk drinking in relation to sexual assault and focused on increasing staff and faculty diversity.
The lawsuit against Dartmouth is pending.
Dartmouth did not immediately respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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