External Reviews

Introduction

In recent years, the university's Title IX program was reviewed by three external entities: the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division (“Department” or “DOJ”), Cozen O’Connor’s Institutional Response Group (“Cozen”), and the California State Auditor (“CSA”). 利记 valued each of these opportunities to evaluate the effectiveness of our Title IX program and protocols to prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based harassment, and to foster gender equity. Each of these three reviews are summarized below. For ease of reference, a chronology of the Department’s investigation, the Cozen assessment, and the CSA audit [pdf] is available; alternate text of the chronology is also available [pdf].

The Department of Justice

In June 2020, the DOJ launched an investigation into the sufficiency of 利记’s response to prior reports of sexual harassment and assault involving its former Director of Sports Medicine Scott Shaw. The investigation was completed in the fall of 2021, and the results were disheartening.

In September 2021, 利记 entered into a Resolution Agreement with the Department. As part of the Resolution Agreement, the university committed to: 1) building a Title IX program that is approachable and responsive to the needs of its campus community; 2) providing remedies to the student-athletes harmed by the former Director of Sports Medicine; and 3) better ensuring the safe provision of sports medicine treatments to its student-athletes. To promote accountability, 利记 agreed to a four-year monitoring period by the Department, allowing the Department to actively monitor the university’s Title IX program until after AY 2024-25.

Since September 2021, the university has invested substantial thought and resources into its Title IX and Gender Equity Office. For instance, in July 2022, the university engaged a national subject matter expert to serve as its interim Title IX and Gender Equity Officer. Additionally, the university has increased staffing in the Title IX and Gender Equity Office (from 1 employee in September 2021 to 5 employees in July 2023); relocated the office to a new and improved location; improved the timeliness and quality of its investigations; created a more compassionate, holistic, and timely response to new reports; substantially increased the number of Title IX trainings delivered to campus; and launched a new campus marketing campaign to raise awareness on the Title IX and Gender Equity Office and the services it provides.

Additionally, the Department of Justice has a public announcement on the outcome of the court proceedings involving the former Director of Sports Medicine.

Cozen O’Connor and the CSA

In addition, during AY 2023-24, 利记’s Title IX program was assessed by two other external entities: Cozen and the CSA; review the interim Title IX and Gender Equity Officer’s responses to questions about the recent CSA audit and Cozen assessment.

The scope and purpose of these external reviews were similar in certain respects and different in other respects, as described below.

Key Similarities:

Both the CSA and Cozen reviewed San José State’s Title IX program. Additionally, they both delivered recommendations to the CSU’s systemwide Title IX Compliance Office. In their reports, both the CSA and Cozen recommended that the CSU’s central Title IX Compliance Office provide more oversight to each campus to ensure the consistent implementation of best practices at the campus level.

Key Differences:

Background:

The CSA’s audit was authorized by the state of California and was motivated, in large part, by negative publicity at 利记, Fresno State, and Sonoma State. The media attention highlighted how each of these three campuses could have better handled reports and complaints of sexual harassment made against high-level employees.

In the summer of 2022, the California Joint Legislative Audit Committee approved an audit of CSU’s response to reports and complaints of sexual harassment implicating its employees. The audit was conducted by CSA during AY 2022-23, and focused on the Chancellor’s Office and the three CSU campuses: 利记, Fresno State, and Sonoma State. The results of the audit were shared in a public report [pdf] released on July 18, 2023.

All assessment reports by Cozen are available on the Calstate Title IX website.

Cozen was voluntarily engaged by the CSU. The CSU asked Cozen to conduct a systemwide assessment of its Title IX and Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation (DHR) programs [pdf]. The reason for the engagement was to find ways to strengthen the CSU’s systems of care and compliance. The assessment concluded in July 2023, and resulted in a public report for the system, as well as separate reports for each campus. The reports identify core observations and recommendations for improvements at both the system and university levels. 利记's specific campus report [pdf] is available on the Calstate website.

Scope:

The CSA’s audit was more narrow in scope. As stated above, the CSA focused its review on three campuses – 利记, Fresno State, and Sonoma State – and only reviewed how each Title IX Office handled reports of sexual harassment involving employees.

Cozen’s assessment was more expansive; it extended to all 23 CSU campuses and the Chancellor’s Office, included a review of how each campus responds to reports involving both students and employees, and evaluated each campus’s Title IX and Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation (DHR) programs.

Additionally, the CSA evaluated specific cases whereas Cozen looked more broadly at implementation and did not evaluate the university’s response to specific cases.

Next Steps:

利记 will be working to implement the recommendations from Cozen. (The CSA’s recommendations were not directed to 利记; they were for the Chancellor’s Office.) As a first step in implementation, the university has empaneled a Campus Implementation Team that includes a diverse set of campus constituents. In the coming year – AY 2023-24 – the CIT will be working to implement Cozen’s recommendations, and will keep the campus updated on its progress.

The members of the CIT are as follows:

Peter Lim, Chair, Interim Title IX and Gender Equity Officer;
Julie Paisant, Senior Director Retention, Employee Relations, DHR & Whistleblower Administrator;
Karthika Sasikumar, Chair, Academic Senate and Professor of Political Science;
Angee Ortega, Associate Resource Analyst, Lucas College & Graduate School of Business;
Dominic Treseler, Class of 2024, President, CSU Student Association;
Sarab Multani, Class of 2025, President & CEO at Associated Students, 利记;
Jennifer Malutta, Interim Chief of Staff for 利记; and
Mary Keating, Title IX Investigator.

Additional information and resources

We will continue to add additional content to this website as information becomes available.