New judicial process proposed for sexual assault

Faculty, staff and student members of the Stanford community have been invited to comment on a proposed updated process for investigating and adjudicating cases of prohibited sexual conduct brought against students.

The new process was proposed last spring by the Provost’s Task Force on Sexual Assault Policies and Practices, an 18-member panel of students, faculty, staff and alumni. The task force called for a refined process that would maximize consistency and minimize procedural delays when the university investigates allegations of sexual assault and sexual misconduct involving students.

A subgroup of the task force has worked with the Title IX Office and the Office of Community Standards to translate the recommendation into the proposed Student Title IX Process.

The university hopes to implement the new process in the winter quarter on a pilot basis.

Development of the new process is one of a number of actions Stanford has taken on the pressing issue of sexual assault. Among other things, in response to task force recommendations Stanford is hiring staff for an expanded Confidential Support Team for students in crisis, and the campus has taken required sexual assault prevention training for new undergraduates and extended it to all graduate students.

In addition, Stanford Law School Dean M. Elizabeth Magill, who co-chaired the task force, will head an advisory group to receive information about implementation of the new adjudication process and work with university staff to assess its success.

Read more in Stanford Report.