Report 2022-109 Recommendation 2 Responses

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

Recommendation #2 To: University, California State

To ensure that campuses conduct consistent and effective investigations of allegations of sexual harassment, the Chancellor's Office should, by July 2024, establish more specific expectations for how investigators should structure their analyses of evidence and their determinations in sexual harassment investigation reports. The written procedures or guidelines should, at minimum, do the following:

- Specify how investigators should perform and document credibility evaluations.

- Require that before investigators assess whether the alleged conduct violated policy, they document an assessment of each allegation that establishes whether the alleged conduct likely occurred and that these assessments consider all relevant conduct for which the investigator has identified evidence.

- Require investigators to document analysis specific to each relevant component of CSU's sexual harassment definition that addresses whether conduct met or did not meet the particular component of the definition.

- Require that investigators' analyses and final determinations about whether conduct violated the sexual harassment policy take into account the cumulative effect of all relevant conduct found to have likely occurred.

1-Year Agency Response

In June 2024, the Chancellor's Office issued guidance for Title IX and Discrimination, Harassment, Retaliation (DHR) practitioners on the structure of analysis and determinations in sexual harassment investigation reports.

The guidance specifies how investigators should perform credibility evaluations, record the thought process behind their analysis and conclusions, and document their analysis for each relevant component of the sexual harassment definition. The guidance also provides a framework for how investigators should make a final determination that considers the cumulative effect of all conduct that the investigator determined to have, more likely than not, occurred.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Fully Implemented

The Chancellor's Office's guidance on the structure of analysis and determinations in sexual harassment investigation reports includes the specific guidelines we list in our recommendation, such as specifying how investigators should perform and document credibility evaluations. This new guidance implements all of the elements in our recommendation.

6-Month Agency Response

Written guidelines are in development which will establish specific expectations for investigators in terms of structuring their analyses of evidence and determinations in investigation reports, including those pertaining to sexual harassment investigations. The subject of the guidelines may be addressed in new regulations from the Office of Civil Rights (OCR), U.S. Department of Education. The guidelines are expected in March 2024.

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

60-Day Agency Response

In July 2023, the Chancellor's Office hosted its annual three-day systemwide Title IX and Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation (DHR) conference for all university Title IX Coordinators, Deputy Title IX Coordinators and Investigators. Training sessions at the conference discussed expectations for how investigators should structure their analyses and determinations, including a session focused on the performance and documentation of credibility evaluations, a session focused on the application of factual findings to policy, and a session on evidentiary analysis and report writing.

The Chancellor's Office will create written guidelines which will establish more specific expectations for investigators in terms of structuring the analyses of evidence and determinations in investigation reports, including those pertaining to sexual harassment investigations.

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

All Recommendations in 2022-109

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.