Grand Strand conference to focus on higher education response to sexual misconduct

CONWAY When CCU got the “Dear Colleague” letter from the U.S. Department of Education last spring, officials there sat down and read carefully.

The letter, which was sent to colleges and universities nationwide, told administrators what the department expected the schools to do when reports of sexual misdeeds were filed that involved their students.

It caused the university to change the way it was doing some things, said Tim Meacham, CCU’s attorney. Noncompliance could mean a loss of federal funding.

And, it resulted in Kay Keels being named Coastal’s Title IX coordinator.

Now, just six months after her appointment, Keels is hoping to learn yet more about all the law entails and how best to meet its dictates at the 13th annual Linda B. Floyd Campus Safety Conference being held through Friday at the Grande Dunes Resort. She’s hoping to hear not just what nationally-recognized experts say about the nuances of compliance with Title IX, the focus of this year’s conference, but also to learn what administrators from other schools’ are doing in response to the federal letter.

“Everybody’s busy doing their jobs,” Floyd said of the more than 100 higher education administrators and campus safety personnel who will attend, “and this conference allows them to have those conversations.”

The annual conference is a centerpiece of the S.C. Higher Education Foundation, which was founded by Floyd and her husband, Surfside Beach attorney Dalton Floyd, a former chairman of the S.C. Higher Education Commission.

Shortly after the foundation was formed, Linda Floyd said Tuesday, the couple’s youngest son was found bloodied and near dead in his bed at a room he rented while a student at USC. His head was badly beaten and his wrists were broken, but he survived, and after 33 hours of surgery and many more of rehabilitation, he recovered.

Dealing with university and law enforcement officials was at times frustrating for the Floyds, she said. Among the things they learned through the process was that sometimes vital information was not shared even among different departments of the same school.

They decided that a focus was needed and set up the conferences, which have been held statewide and now attract officials from colleges and universities in other states as well. Among those registered for this year’s sessions, Floyd said, are representatives from schools in Florida, Tennessee, Virginia and Texas.

Floyd said that when the conferences were first held, there was some resistance from schools because officials felt the sessions were trying to pin blame on schools for violence on campuses. That attitude changed as they saw the focus was to be education on safety issues, and now, she said, “I’m convinced (the annual conferences) have definitely raised awareness of safety on campus.”

Past conferences have dealt with things such as hazing and alcohol in fraternities and sororities, mental health issues, a loss of civility on campuses and crisis management.

“Generally, it is a topic that is current,” Floyd said.

Hence this year’s focus on Title IX.

Keels said CCU is refining the system it has put in place as a result of the “Dear Colleague” letter.

Meacham said university officials thoroughly reviewed the school’s policies and procedures in figuring out what, if anything, needed to be changed.

One thing that did, he said, was to rewrite a policy so it would allow both alleged victims and alleged perpetrators the right to appeal any findings. Also, it now requires early notification of the Title IX coordinator and a victim’s advocate of any reports of sexual violence, a broad term that covers everything from harassment to date rape.

There are still some unresolved issues with the specifics of compliance, Keels and Meacham said. One, Meacham said, is that the letter mandated university involvement in all reports of sexual misconduct, even if the incidents occur off-campus. That’s fine, he said, if it happens in a jurisdiction that knows the school wants to be informed. But if it happens in Mexico, for instance, or a U.S. jurisdiction that isn’t aware the school needs to be contacted or how to contact the school, will the school be penalized for not being in the process?

Keels said she has been circulating among campus groups urging them to “please report, please report, please report.” She’s also spoken with faculty members, because they can be the first person a student would seek if they had a problem. Keels wants to be sure the faculty is sensitive to the situation and reports it to her.

Meacham is glad of the focus the conferences have brought to campus safety.

“I’m grateful that the Floyds do this,” he said. “They know what they are doing.”

And while he said the problems of sexual attacks on underage boys at Penn State University have not shaped this year’s focus on Title IX compliance, he suggested they have illustrated a big downside of not treating reports seriously.

“You can never explain under reaction,” he said.