Advisory committee on sexual assault policies invites input

An advisory committee of faculty and students is inviting input from the campus community on Stanford’s policies and practices around issues of sexual violence.

The Advisory Committee on Sexual Assault Policies and Practices was created to monitor and make recommendations on Stanford’s education, support and adjudication programs in this area. Many of those programs have expanded or been updated to further strengthen Stanford’s approach to preventing and responding to sexual violence.

A feedback form on the web allows members of the Stanford community to provide input and suggestions to the advisory committee. The committee will be welcoming input on an ongoing basis, either by name or anonymously.

“Our goal is to help ensure that Stanford has the most effective possible programs to prevent and respond to sexual violence, and input from the community is integral to our work,” said Pamela Karlan, professor of law and chair of the advisory committee. “We hope students and all other members of the campus community who have perspectives on these issues will accept our invitation to share them with us.”

Karlan recently became chair of the committee, taking over from Stanford Law School Dean M. Elizabeth Magill, who will continue to serve as a member of the committee.

In 2014-15, the Provost’s Task Force on Sexual Assault Policies and Practices, an 18-member panel of students, faculty and staff, convened and made recommendations for a variety of improvements to Stanford’s education, support and adjudication programs around sexual violence. The university has been working to implement the recommendations of the task force.

Much of the advisory committee’s objective is to monitor the expanding educational programs Stanford uses to help prevent sexual violence, as well as the multiple support resources the university offers to students who have experienced sexual violence.

The committee also has a particular function in monitoring the Student Title IX Process, a pilot process implemented in February 2016 for investigating and adjudicating sexual violence cases involving students.

After a pilot period expected to continue well into 2018, the process ultimately can be adopted as ongoing university policy if approved by several faculty, student and administrative bodies. The advisory committee will monitor the process and gather information in order to make a recommendation about its ongoing adoption or refinement.

Members of the advisory committee are Aku Ammah-Tagoe, PhD candidate in English; Karlan, the chair; Magill, dean of Stanford Law School and co-chair of the 2014-15 Provost’s Task Force; undergraduate student Claudia McKenzie, ’18; Laura Roberts, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences; and Robert Weisberg, professor of law. The committee is staffed by Marisa McCarthy, who also staffed the 2014-15 Provost’s Task Force.

The advisory committee’s feedback form can be found here.

Anyone at Stanford who has experienced an act of sexual violence is encouraged to seek support from the university. Confidential resources are available, including from the Confidential Support Team. Additional information and resources can be found on the university’s Not Alone website.