Penn\u2019s Undergraduate Assembly passed a resolution on Sunday calling on the University to overhaul its Title IX policies and formally involve students in the improvement process.<\/p>\n
The resolution<\/a> identified \u201ckey problems\u201d the UA gathered from meetings with various University offices, including communication and transparency, timeliness and capacity, fairness and survivor experience, outcomes and accountability, and policy and governance. The UA also organized its demands into three tiers based on the recommended implementation timeline.<\/p>\n The five sections highlighted a lack of public information about the \u201cprocess, timelines, and outcomes\u201d of Title IX investigations, the protracted timeline for case resolution with little communication, limited support for survivors, and a lack of clarity regarding disciplinary actions.<\/p>\n College and Wharton junior Khalil ElBechir \u2014 who serves as the UA\u2019s Community Engagement and Sustainability director \u2014 described the \u201ccurrent situation\u201d at Penn as \u201cunacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPenn promised a national model. So far, students have gotten silence,\u201d ElBechir wrote in a statement. \u201cSurvivors wait weeks for an update. Cases take months. According to HESMA 2024, most students who experience violence never contact a single campus resource. These are symptoms of a broken system that students do not trust.\u201d<\/p>\n Get the DP delivered straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n Sign Up<\/a><\/p>\n ElBechir is also leading the UA\u2019s ad hoc Title IX committee, formed<\/a> amid a national outcry over Cornell University\u2019s handling of an alleged gang rape that took place on the school\u2019s campus in 2024.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Cornell case reminded the country that survivors depend on their institutions for protection, for answers, and for accountability, and that a university\u2019s process is often the only route they have to any of it,\u201d ElBechir wrote. \u201cEvery student at Penn deserves to know that our system would protect and support them. That is the problem this resolution aims to fix.\u201d<\/p>\n The document was addressed to the President\u2019s Office, the Provost\u2019s Office, the University Board of Trustees, the Center for Civil Rights, the Associate Vice President for Equity and Title IX Officer, the Penn Violence Prevention office, and the Office of University Life. 14 organization have signed the resolution as of publication.<\/p>\n According to the document, the UA met with representatives from the Penn Women\u2019s Center, the LGBT Center, Penn Violence Prevention, the Center for Civil Rights, the Title IX Office, and the Vice Provost of University Life to understand the most pressing issues regarding interpersonal violence.<\/p>\n \u201cIt draws on over six months of research and conversations with campus offices and support centers, a review of Penn\u2019s Sexual Misconduct Policy and the Center for Civil Rights, comparisons with peer institutions, and a fruitful collaboration with Abuse & Sexual Assault Prevention at the University of Pennsylvania (ASAP) and The University of Pennsylvania\u2019s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC),\u201d the document read.<\/p>\n College senior James Glomb, who serves as the president of SAAC, wrote in a statement that the organization \u201cremains committed to working alongside students, student organizations, and University administrators to foster a safer and more supportive environment for all members of the Penn community, both within and beyond Penn Athletics.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe recognize that meaningful progress requires continued collaboration, open communication, and a shared commitment to strengthening sexual violence prevention, education, and response efforts across campus,\u201d Glomb added.<\/p>\n College junior Nicolina Monacelli and College senior Ashley Kim \u2014 the UC Representative and President of ASAP, respectively \u2014 similarly wrote that the organization assisted the resolution \u201cby providing background information and data on the rates of interpersonal violence on Penn\u2019s campus.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIncreasing transparency and communication from campus leaders is crucial in supporting the student body,\u201d Monacelli and Kim wrote. \u201cWe will diligently work to actualize the demands in the guidelines.\u201d<\/p>\n The resolution\u2019s \u201cImmediate Action\u201d tier called on the University to take public steps by Dec. 1 to demonstrate an \u201cintentional commitment to reform its Title IX process.\u201d Those changes include redesigning the Title IX Office\u2019s website<\/a> to be more \u201cconcise\u201d and to offer community members \u201ceasily digestible flow diagrams\u201d of routes to take after experiencing interpersonal violence.<\/p>\n The resolution recommended that the website outline \u201cstudents\u2019 and faculty members\u2019 rights\u201d and \u201cthe roles of relevant University offices\u201d while distinguishing between confidential resources and those with mandated reporting obligations.<\/p>\n Within the first tier, the UA also called on the Center for Civil Rights to make its \u201cmission, vision, and role\u201d clear to the broader Penn community during New Student Orientation and on its website<\/a>. Another line urged the University to form a \u201cconsultative advisory board\u201d to CCR involving student members, requiring the center to \u201crespond in writing to the board\u2019s recommendations.\u201d<\/p>\n Another short-term recommendation was that the University \u201cexpand equitable access to legal assistance\u201d by offering students a public list of \u201cfree or low-cost legal services\u201d to provide guidance during the investigation process.<\/p>\n The second tier of the resolution, titled \u201cNear-Term Procedural Reforms,\u201d listed improvements to be implemented by June 1, 2027. These recommendations focused on streamlining the investigative process and strengthening interim support for survivors of interpersonal and sexual violence.<\/p>\n The resolution asked Penn, for example, to \u201cimplement trauma-informed questioning procedures that eliminate unnecessary and repetitive questioning during hearings.\u201d Another line recommended that the Title IX Office and affiliated investigators \u201crelease the final investigative report within six weeks of the filing of a formal complaint.\u201d<\/p>\n The UA requested that the University \u201cstrengthen sanctions for confirmed cases of interpersonal violence,\u201d ensuring that they are \u201csurvivor-centered\u201d and \u201cproportionate to the gravity of the violation.\u201d<\/p>\n The second tier also included recommendations to improve educational resources for the Penn community, such as the implementation of \u201cmandatory annual interpersonal violence prevention training\u201d by the Title IX Office for every undergraduate student, with specific modules for each class year.<\/p>\n Titled \u201cStructural and Ongoing Reforms,\u201d the third tier of the resolution centered on the enforcement of long-term improvements. Many such requests were for periodic, publicized reviews of Title IX procedures and outcomes, including \u201can annual report on the Title IX Office\u2019s staffing capacity, aggregate caseload, case processing timelines, and resource needs.\u201d<\/p>\n Another line called on the University to \u201cconduct an independent review of the efficacy of the Title IX Office\u2019s two-investigator model.\u201d<\/p>\n College senior and UA President Musab Chummun emphasized in a statement that the resolution \u201cis only the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe are looking forward to hearing from the Center for Civil Rights, Title IX, and other administrators on how they will incorporate our demands in order to improve the Title IX policies,\u201d he wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n Chummun added that it is \u201ccritical\u201d for Penn students to \u201chold each other accountable\u201d and \u201cpush each other to be better.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPolicy change is only as good as the community behind it,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n Senior reporter Christine Oh leads coverage of student life and can be reached at oh@thedp.com<\/a>. At Penn, she studies English and philosophy. Follow her on X @ChristineOh_<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Penn\u2019s Undergraduate Assembly passed a resolution on Sunday calling on the University to overhaul its Title IX policies…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314334,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70],"class_list":["post-314333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}