Stanford has combined the three offices that address sexual assault and sexual harassment education and response to create one office: the SHARE Title IX Office.

SHARE stands for Sexual Harassment/Assault Response & Education. The new office merges the Title IX Office, the Sexual Harassment Policy Office (SHPO) and the Sexual Assault and Relationship Abuse Education and Response Office (SARA).

“Pulling together all our staff into one office will help coordinate response efforts, leverage expertise and enable expanded prevention education offerings for students, faculty and staff,” said Lauren Schoenthaler, senior associate vice provost for institutional equity & access.

Key factors in the decision to create the SHARE Title IX Office include recommendations from the external review committee that evaluated Stanford’s sexual harassment and assault prevention efforts and a similar recommendation from the directors of the units within Institutional Equity & Access at Stanford. In addition, the change recognizes the new Department of Education’s Title IX regulations, effective in August 2020, which apply to all allegations made against faculty, staff and students.

External review

Earlier this year, Stanford commissioned the external review by national experts of the offices within Stanford Institutional Equity & Access (IEA) that provide support and response on matters of sexual violence and harassment. The reviewers were asked to provide recommendations for improving the experiences of community members who have experienced or been accused of sexual violence or harassment. The review process included multiple meetings with university leaders and IEA staff, as well as forums for students and for faculty and staff.

Along with many observations on how the university manages cases of sexual misconduct, the external review committee’s report contains recommendations for office structure, staff roles and responsibilities, policies and procedures, administrative processes, prevention and education programs and an advisory structure.

“Our ultimate goal is to create a campus culture free of sexual violence, sexual harassment and discrimination of any kind. We will continue our efforts to provide support, education and other resources for our campus community, and we will continue to listen to our community and look for ways to improve our policies, processes and resources,” said Schoenthaler.

She added, “I am grateful to the external review team, whose members took time away from their own universities to provide insight into areas of improvement. I also want to extend my heartfelt thanks to the members of the new SHARE Title IX Office, who work tirelessly to get this right for Stanford and who are always willing to go back to the drawing board to make improvements to better serve our community.”

Positions posted

Stanford has posted a position for a Title IX coordinator/director of the SHARE Office to lead this team. To elevate the role within the university, this position will have oversight from Provost Persis Drell and Vice President for Human Resources Elizabeth Zacharias. Additionally, Stanford is posting for a director of client services within SHARE Title IX to elevate and expand case management services.

Stanford also has added a second deputy Title IX coordinator, Phung Truong, senior director for Employee & Labor Relations, University Human Resources, in addition to Deputy Title IX coordinator Sophia Khan, who has been part of the Title IX Office since 2017. Khan will lead student response matters, and Truong will lead staff response matters.

The SHARE Title IX Office will remain in Institutional Equity & Access at Stanford. 

There are also plans to institute a SHARE Title IX Office Advisory Board, with representation from students, faculty and staff.