Oxy Takes New Steps to Address Sexual Assaults on Campus

Occidental College is conducting a national search for a Title IX coordinator who will help the administration deal with a variety of gender-related discrimination issues, including the problem of sexual assault on campus, which has cast a negative spotlight on the college lately.

In an open letter to the college community on Wednesday, Oxy President Jonathan Veitch wrote that action on the issue of campus sexual assaults is “too important to delay” and that because Commencement is just three weeks away, it’s “vital not to lose our momentum” as college administrators continue to “press on with our work though the summer months.”

“The new coordinator would spend all of his or her time dealing only with Title IX-related issues, which include sexual assault, but also include sexual harassment, and gender equity issues in general, including college athletics,” Occidental College Director of Communications Jim Tranquada told Eagle Rock Patch, confirming that the coordinator would report directly to Veitch and would begin work by the fall.

Click here to read Veitch’s open letter to the campus community, which came on the same day as another open letter signed by 110 members of the Oxy faculty, who vowed to "transform the policies and underlying culture" surrounding sexual assault on students. Click here to read the faculty open letter.

In addition, the Oxy president announced a number of recommendations from two sexual assault experts the college recently commissioned to help it better address complaints from a growing number of young women on campus who allege they were raped or sexually assaulted by fellow students. (See attached PDF for the recommendations.)

Veitch also reiterated that the college has already hired a so-called “survivor advocate” for victims of rape and sexual assault. The advocate, Naddia Palacios (npalacios@oxy.edu), was a respected associate director of Oxy’s intercultural affairs from 2007 to 2010. She returned to work for Oxy’s Emmons Health Center April 22.  

“As we move forward with policy revision, we will ensure that we inform our campus of all changes,” Veitch said, adding: “I expect our new policy to incorporate the changes we have already put in place regarding limitations on the scope of appeal and protocols for issuing email alerts to notify the community when a sexual assault has been reported.

• Click here to read a series of recent open letters from Oxy President Veitch to the campus community regarding the sexual assaults scandal.

• Click here to read details about an April 18 news conference at which six Oxy students, including Logan, read statements about their alleged rape or sexual assault.

• Click here to read about an April 19 "Sleepover For Sexual Assault Awareness" at the Occidental College campus.

• Click here to read about an Oxy senior who says she was raped and that she “encountered lots of barriers” coping with her trauma at college.