Ensuring Impartiality

Any individual materially involved in the administration of the Resolution Process, including the Title IX Coordinator, Investigator(s), and Decision-maker(s), may neither have nor demonstrate a conflict of interest or bias for a party generally, or for a specific Complainant or Respondent.

The Title IX Coordinator will vet the assigned Investigator(s), Decision-maker(s), and Appeals officers for impartiality by ensuring there are no actual or apparent conflicts of interest or disqualifying biases. At any time during the Resolution Process, the Parties may raise a concern regarding bias or conflict of interest, and the Title IX Coordinator will determine whether the concern is reasonable and supportable. If so, another Investigator, Decision-maker, or Appeal Officer will be assigned, and the impact of the bias or conflict, if any, will be remedied. If the source of the conflict of interest or bias is the Title IX Coordinator, concerns should be raised with the Vice President of Student Affairs.

The Resolution Process involves an objective evaluation of all available relevant and not otherwise impermissible evidence, including evidence that supports that the Respondent engaged in a Policy violation and evidence that supports that the Respondent did not engage in a Policy violation. Credibility determinations may not be based solely on an individual’s status or participation as a Complainant, Respondent, or witness. All Parties have a full and fair opportunity, through the investigation process, to suggest witnesses and questions, to provide evidence, and to receive a written investigation report that accurately summarizes this evidence.

Investigator Appointment

Once an investigation is initiated, the Deputy/Title IX Coordinator appoints an Investigator(s) to conduct it. These Investigators may be members of the Resolution Process Pool, or any other properly trained Investigator, whether internal or external to the College’s community.

Witness Role and Participation in the Investigation

Employees (not including Complainant and Respondent) are required to cooperate with and participate in the College’s investigation and Resolution Process. Student witnesses and witnesses from outside the College community cannot be required to participate but are encouraged to cooperate with College investigations and to share what they know about a Complaint.

Interviews may be conducted in person, via online video platforms (e.g., Zoom, Microsoft Teams, FaceTime, WebEx, etc.), or, in limited circumstances, by telephone. The College will take appropriate steps to ensure the security/privacy of remote interviews.

Parties and witnesses may also provide written statements in lieu of interviews or choose to respond to written questions, if deemed appropriate by the Investigator(s).

Interview Recording

It is standard practice for Investigators to create a record of all interviews pertaining to the Resolution Process (other than Informal Resolution meetings). The Parties may review copies of their own interviews to verify the Investigator’s summary, upon request. No unauthorized audio or video recording of any kind is permitted during investigation meetings. If an Investigator(s) elects to audio and/or video record interviews, all involved individuals should be made aware of audio and/or video recording.

All interviews are recorded. The recording and/or transcript of those meetings will be provided to the Parties for their review, after which the Parties may pose additional questions to each other. Those subsequent meetings or interviews are also recorded and/or transcribed and shared with the Parties.

Evidentiary Considerations

The Investigator(s) and the Decision-maker(s) will only consider evidence that is deemed relevant and not otherwise impermissible.

Relevant evidence is that which may aid in determining whether the allegation occurred, or whether the behavior constitutes a violation of Policy.

Impermissible evidence is defined as evidence that relates to the Complainant’s sexual interests or prior sexual conduct, unless 1) evidence about the Complainant’s prior sexual conduct is offered to prove that someone other than the Respondent committed the alleged conduct, or 2) is evidence about specific incidents of the Complainant’s prior sexual conduct with the Respondent that is offered to prove consent.

The fact of prior consensual sexual conduct between the Complainant and Respondent does not by itself demonstrate or imply the Complainant’s consent or preclude a determination that sex-based harassment occurred.

Previous disciplinary action of any kind involving the Respondent may not be considered unless there is an allegation of a pattern of misconduct. Such information may also be considered in determining an appropriate sanction upon a determination of responsibility. Barring a pattern allegation, this information is only considered at the sanction stage of the process and is not shared until then.

Within the limitations stated above, the investigation and determination can consider character evidence, if offered, but that evidence is unlikely to be relevant unless it is fact evidence or relates to a pattern of conduct.

Respondent Admits Responsibility

At any point in the proceedings, if a Respondent elects to admit to the charged violations and waive further process, the Decision-maker is authorized to accept that admission, adopt it as their finding/final determination, and administer sanctions. This would also waive all rights to appeal for the Respondent. If the Respondent rejects the finding/final determination/sanctions, or does not admit to all conduct charged, the Resolution Process continues to its conclusion.

Investigation

All investigations are adequate, thorough, reliable, impartial, prompt, and fair. They involve interviews with all relevant Parties and witnesses, obtaining relevant evidence, and identifying sources of expert information, as necessary.

After an interview, Parties and witnesses will be asked to verify the accuracy of the recording, transcript, or summary of their interview. They may submit changes, edits, or clarifications. If the Parties or witnesses do not respond within the time period designated for verification, objections to the accuracy of the recording, transcript, or summary will be deemed to have been waived, and no changes will be permitted.

The College may consolidate Complaints against more than one Respondent, or by more than one Complainant against one or more Respondents, when the allegations arise from the same facts or circumstances or implicate a pattern, collusion, and/or other shared or similar actions.

The Investigator(s) typically take(s) the following steps, if not already completed and not necessarily in this order:

• Determine the identity and contact information of the Complainant.
• Identify all policies implicated by the alleged misconduct and notify the Complainant and Respondent of all specific policies implicated.
• Assist the Title IX Coordinator, if needed, with conducting a prompt initial evaluation to determine if the allegations indicate a potential Policy violation.
• Work with the Title IX Coordinator, as necessary, to prepare the initial Notice of Investigation and Allegations (NOIA). The NOIA may be amended with any additional or dismissed allegations.
• Commence a thorough, reliable, and impartial investigation by identifying issues and developing a strategic investigation plan, including a witness list, evidence list, intended investigation timeframe, and order of interviews for the Parties and witnesses.
• When participation of a party is expected, provide that party with written notification of the date, time, and location of the meeting, as well as the expected participants and purpose.
• Make good faith efforts to notify each party of any meeting or interview involving another party, in advance when possible.
• Interview the Complainant and the Respondent and conduct follow-up interviews with each, as necessary.
• Interview all available, relevant witnesses and conduct follow-up interviews as necessary.
• Provide each interviewed party and witness an opportunity to review and verify the Investigator’s summary notes (or transcript or recording) of the relevant evidence/testimony from their respective interviews and meetings.
• Allow each party the opportunity to suggest witnesses and questions they wish the Investigator(s) to ask of another party and/or witnesses. Document in the investigation report which questions were asked, with a rationale for any changes or omissions.
• Where possible, complete the investigation promptly and without unreasonable deviation from the intended timeline.
• Provide the Parties with status updates during the investigation.
• Prior to the conclusion of the investigation, provide the Parties and their respective Advisors with a list of witnesses whose information will be used to render a finding.
• Ask the Parties to provide a list of questions they would like asked of the other party or any witnesses. The Investigator will ask those questions deemed relevant, and for any question deemed not relevant, will provide a rationale for not asking the question.
• Write a draft investigation report that gathers, assesses, and synthesizes the evidence, accurately summarizes the investigation, and party and witness interviews, and provides all relevant evidence.
• Provide the Parties and their respective Advisors an electronic copy of the draft investigation report as well as an opportunity to inspect and review all relevant evidence obtained as part of the investigation for a review and comment period of ten (10) business days so that each party may meaningfully respond to the evidence. The Parties may elect to waive all or part of the review period.

Continue to Notice of Outcome and Sanctions.