Report 2022-109 Recommendation 1 Responses

Report 2022-109: California State University: It Did Not Adequately or Consistently Address Some Allegations of Sexual Harassment (Release Date: July 2023)

Recommendation #1 To: University, California State

To ensure that campuses consistently and appropriately justify and document their decisions about whether to conduct formal investigations, the Chancellor's Office should, by July 2024, create clearer and more comprehensive expectations for how campuses should perform and document their initial assessments of allegations. The written procedures or guidelines it develops should apply, at a minimum, to any report or complaint that includes allegations of possible sexual harassment involving an employee respondent and should do the following:

- Require campuses to determine whether a respondent has been the subject of multiple or prior reports of misconduct.

- Clarify how to assess the benefits and risks of conducting or not conducting an investigation when there are challenges with or ambiguities about a complainant's desire or ability to participate. Such an assessment might include applying more broadly the factors that CSU's policy already incorporates when a complainant explicitly requests that no investigation occurs.

- Provide guidance about attempting to identify or contact any potential complainants mentioned or discovered during the intake and initial assessment process and about evaluating the likelihood that an investigation could reveal new allegations, context, or information.

- Specify that if a campus decides not to conduct an investigation because a report or complaint fails to allege a sexual harassment policy violation, the campus must explain why there are clear indications that the alleged conduct, even if true, could not reasonably meet CSU's definition of sexual harassment.

- Require a thorough, documented rationale for campuses' decisions about whether to conduct an investigation that addresses, at a minimum, any applicable factors listed above and any other relevant factors in CSU's policy.

6-Month Agency Response

The Chancellor's Office further refined and finalized the intake and initial assessment checklist with protocols to standardize operations. It was provided to campuses on October 27, 2023, with a directive to begin using it on November 1, 2023.

In addition, intake and initial assessment guidance was provided to campuses on January 8, 2024.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Fully Implemented

The Chancellor's Office's guidance and checklist on the intake and initial assessment contain all of the elements from our recommendation.

60-Day Agency Response

Through its Nondiscrimination Policy workgroup, the Chancellor's Office will, in the form of written procedures or guidelines, develop clearer and more comprehensive expectations for how campuses should perform and document their initial assessments of allegations. The workgroup is currently meeting twice per month; meeting frequency will be increased as necessary. The Chancellor's Office has distributed a draft intake and initial assessment checklist for campuses to use when a report of sexual harassment or other sexual misconduct is received by a campus Title IX office. The Chancellor's Office will continue to evaluate and refine this checklist to ensure its efficacy as an initial assessment tool for campuses. In July 2023, the Chancellor's Office hosted its annual three-day systemwide Title IX and Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation (DHR) conference for all Title IX Coordinators, Deputy Title IX Coordinators and Investigators. Multiple training sessions offered at the conference reviewed the initial assessment process, and one session was dedicated to this topic.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

All Recommendations in 2022-109

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.