Project on Sexual and Gender-Based Misconduct on Campus: Procedural Frameworks and Analysis V. Preliminary Draft No. 1 Ch. 5 Addendum

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Preliminary Draft No. 1 Ch. 5 Addendum 1 (2015)

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1 Project on Sexual and Gender-Based Misconduct on Campus: Procedural
2 Frameworks and Analysis
3
4 Chapter 5
5
6 Informal Resolution: Colleges and universities should establish a means for
7 informal resolution of concerns, reports, and/or complaints.
8
9 Students may want to bring perceived misconduct to the attention of the
10 school without seeking punishment of other students and/or with a view to
11 achieving informal resolution. While some students may simply want anonymously
12 to report conduct of concern, some may seek informal resolutions. In seeking an
13 informal resolution, some complaining students may seek only accommodations for
14 themselves that do not involve any prospective respondent. Some may want non-
15 coercive remedial efforts directed at potential respondents that do not involve
16 disclosing the complainant's identity to those potential respondents, such as
17 university education efforts targeted at a particular athletic team or fraternity; some
18 may want to reach an agreed-on approach with the potential respondent. Informal
19 resolutions may allow more space for educational feedback from faculty and trained
20 staff to the students involved, in ways consistent with the schools' educational
21 mission. Colleges and universities would benefit from establishing a clear path to
22 making and resolving such reports through informal processes.
23
24 5.1. Definition of Informal Resolution
25
26 Comment:
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28 An informal resolution is one that involves action agreed upon by the
29 complainant and the school or, if a respondent is involved in the process, then an
30 action agreed upon by complainant and respondent, with the school's approval; it
31 need not result from the disciplinary process that follows from a complaint seeking,
32 or request for, formal resolution (in which the school makes a determination and, if
33 applicable, imposes a sanction). Informal resolutions may also include a group- or
34 community-oriented educational or related effort by a school in response to
35 circumstances, such as the school's receipt of a credible anonymous complaint, that
36 are not susceptible to an agreed-on resolution between a specific complainant and
37 the school.
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39 Informal resolution processes may be prompted by a report, communication,
40 or complaint to a college or university of perceived misconduct, where the reporter
41 or complainant does not seek to invoke the formal disciplinary process. An informal
42 resolution may simply involve accommodation to the person who reports having
43 experienced sexual misconduct; in such situations, it may not necessarily involve
44 notice to a potential respondent. In other situations, informal resolution may
45 involve notice to a potential respondent with a view toward reaching an agreed-on
46 resolution.

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