Sexual assault on our nation’s campuses is becoming all too familiar,
leading some to conclude that it has reached epidemic proportions. It
seems that no institution is immune. Preparing to respond to a report
of a sexual assault should take place before one occurs—not after an
incident has been reported. The risks of not responding properly can be
significant and can often undermine both the rights of victims and the
accused alike, while at the same time exposing the institution to legal
liability and adverse publicity.
In mid-2014 President Obama declared his intention to stamp out what
he perceives as an excessive number of sexual assaults on our university
campuses, and the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights
has named 100 plus universities which it claims have mismanaged sexual
assault cases on their campuses. Under Title IX of the Higher Education
Act and the Clery, both of which were amended in 2014 by the Violence
Against Women Act, training of faculty and staff is no longer optional.
Everyone shares responsibility for promptly and effectively
responding to sexual-assault allegations. Opportunities for mishandling
such super-sensitive cases, however, are ever-present from the moment a
victim levels an accusation until the allegation has been resolved and
the accused employee or student has either been disciplined or
exonerated. The chances of you and your institution being sued by the
accuser or the accused are roughly equal ... even if you do everything
right! Following best practices is absolutely critical to make sure
that both the victim’s and the accused’s rights are protected and the
potential risks of your school being sued are minimized. Please join Dr.
James Ottavio Castagnera, Esq., managing director of K&C HR
Enterprises and legal counsel at Rider University, for guidance and best
practices for protecting both your school and the victims in situations
of sexual assault.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
Just a sampling of what this webinar will cover:
- Creating your policy and procedures
- Promulgating your policy and procedures
- Educating your campus community about sexual assault
- Integrating your sexual assault policy into your institution's student and employee handbooks
- Defining the roles of your own public safety officers, as well as the local police department
- Training your designated intake officers to handle complaints as well as anonymous allegations
- Training your investigators and hearing officers
- Identifying and/or establishing support services for survivors of sexual assaults
- Planning for adverse publicity and litigation threats
- Maintaining confidentiality within the limits of the law
- AND MUCH MORE!
YOUR CONFERENCE LEADER
Your conference leader for “College Campus Sexual Assault: Protecting
Victims' Rights & Reducing Possible College and University
Liability” is Dr. James Castagnera. Dr. Castagnera holds a law degree
and a Ph.D. in American studies from Case Western Reserve University.
Jim brings three decades of experience in higher education to this
webinar. Prior to law school he served Case Western Reserve as director
of university communication. He went on to teach as a full-time faculty
member at the University of Texas-Austin and the Widener University Law
School, and as a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton
Business School. Currently, and for the past 18 years, he has been Rider
University’s associate provost and legal counsel. His diverse duties
include risk management, regulatory matters, faculty and student
disciplinary cases, litigation management, governance and institutional
policies.
He is the author of 18 books, including the
Handbook for Student Law for Higher Education Administrators (Peter Lang, 2010, revised edition 2014) and a text book titled
Counter Terrorism Issues: Case Studies in the Courtroom (CRC Press 2013).
His teaching experience includes continuing legal education courses,
webinars and presentations at numerous national forums, including the
Annual Conference of the National Center for the Study of Collective
Bargaining in Higher Education and the Annual Homeland Defense and
Security Higher Education Summit sponsored by the Naval Postgraduate
School.
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