The United States Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights (OCR) initiated an investigation on December 3, 2010, to determine whether the University of Notre Dame was in compliance with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and its implementing regulations. OCR specifically investigated the university's policies and procedures related to peer sexual harassment of students and its implementation of those policies and procedures.

The investigation determined that while the university's policies and procedures were widely available, students and university staff were not always clearly instructed as to the processes that would be allowed after a report of sexual assault or sexual misconduct was made to the university. The policies were also not consolidated and somewhat inconsistent.

The university entered into a voluntary Resolution Agreement on July 1, 2011. As part of the Agreement, the university committed to improving its policies and procedures relating to sexual harassment, and their implementation, to investigation promptly all incidents of sexual harassment to which it had notice, to taking appropriate disciplinary action against students and others who violate the policies and procedures, and to take prompt and effective action to end sexual harassment and prevent its recurrence. The university also agreed to make it clearer to students and the public how to report sexual harassment. Additionally, the university was required to make changes to its current sexual harassment policies and procedures, including a clear statement of the legal standard (the "preponderance of evidence" standard) used to evaluate allegations of sexual harassment. The university agreed to ongoing monitoring by OCR until it fulfilled the terms of the agreement, and was also required to provide reports of its progress to OCR.

Elizabeth Heise - 12/10/2018


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