Response from University of Connecticut via email on September 25, 2017:
Dear Ms. Meyer,
Thank you for your email below to President Herbst. We appreciated your letter very much. I can only begin to imagine the impact that your experience in college has had and continues to have, including now as a mother of a daughter in college. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Earlier today, President Herbst released the following statement regarding Friday’s action:
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Education rescinded prior guidance and published new guidance regarding how universities should address sexual violence under Title IX.
After reviewing these guidance documents closely, I want students, faculty, and staff to know that UConn remains steadfastly committed to both preventing sexual violence and responding with compassion to victim-survivors when incidents do occur. Nothing in Friday’saction alters or diminishes those efforts. Our Policy Against Discrimination, Harassment, and Related Interpersonal Violence remains in full effect. We will continue to do the important work of ensuring that our university community is free from all forms of sex-based discrimination and violence, just as we were before. This commitment is unwavering.
In addition, a few weeks ago, following Secretary Devos’ statements on Title IX signaling these rescissions, we issued a statement outlining our commitment to continuing our robust prevention and response efforts. That statement is online here: http://today.uconn.edu/2017/09/uconn-statement-potential-federal-overhaul-title-ix/
We share your concerns about ensuring that victims and survivors are ensured a compassionate, trauma-informed response and moreover, that we are doing everything we can to prevent these incidents from occurring on our campuses.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to me if we can provide any additional information.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Conklin, J.D.
Associate Vice President
Title IX Coordinator & ADA Coordinator
OFFICE OF INSTITUTIONAL EQUITY (OIE)
