CHAPEL HILL, N.C. _ UNC-Chapel Hill has been found in violation of the Title IX anti-discrimination law after a five-year federal investigation into its policies and procedures governing sexual assault and harassment cases.
A letter was sent Monday night by the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights to four former UNC students and a former UNC administrator who filed the federal complaint in January 2013.
"OCR has determined that UNC has failed to adopt and publish grievance procedures that provide for the prompt and equitable resolution of student, employee, and third-party complaints alleging discrimination on the basis of sex, as required by Title IX," the letter said.
Without admitting to any violation, UNC entered into an agreement to review and possibly revise its procedures, to provide reports to the federal government and to submit to monitoring by federal officials. The university also agreed to resolve two allegations, including one that was not investigated fully before it had been concluded, according to the agreement signed June 21 by UNC Chancellor Carol Folt.
The complaint touched off a wave of similar complaints by women against universities across the nation.
Two of the women complainants from UNC, Annie Clark and Andrea Pino, became national leaders in a campaign against sexual violence. They co-authored a book titled "We Believe You." They were also featured in "The Hunting Ground," documentary about sexual assault on college campuses.
During the investigation, the federal government reviewed more than 387 files of complaints of sexual harassment and sexual violence at UNC between 2011 and 2016
"Today the Office for Civil Rights validated our allegations, and we can finally confirm that UNC was indeed in violation of Title IX. Five years later, and at the heels of the #metoo movement and the 46th anniversary of Title IX, I am glad that our complaint pushed campus sexual assault and Title IX to the national agenda, and I hope that Carolina takes this opportunity to recommit to truly making our university a safe and equitable campus for all students," according to a statement by Pino.
Clark added: "UNC is certainly not the only school that has swept sexual violence and harassment under the rug; however, our students have learned from a great place of higher education, and because we have the knowledge, privilege, and power to do so, we have and continue to hold the university that we love accountable. I, like Andrea and so many others am glad that our complaints have finally been validated publicly, but that is not the case for everyone. We as a society, have so much further to go. I want every student to feel safe everywhere, but especially at school _ whether that is in kindergarten or college."
In its findings, the Office for Civil Rights "acknowledges that the University has already taken affirmative steps to improve its response to complaints of sexual harassment and sexual violence."
