Following two comprehensive reviews and assessments of the California State University's existing Title IX and nondiscrimination programs—one by national law firm Cozen O'Connor and the other by the California State Auditor—the CSU has restructured its civil rights programming and services at a system level.
The work is complex and multifaceted, with specific actions numbering into the hundreds, but the overall goal is simple: create processes, services and a campus culture that treats students and employees fairly and with compassion and protects them from discrimination and harassment.
The CSU has embraced the experts' recommendations to transform its infrastructure into a more robust, responsive and transparent system; and is committed to meeting—and exceeding—those recommendations and legal compliance mandates. And although the federal and state laws and regulations that govern complaints and investigations are complicated and continue to evolve, the CSU is working continuously to improve its services and make its complaint processes as prompt and accessible as possible.
“Our highest priority is to protect our university community from discrimination and harassment at all of our universities and the Chancellor's Office," says Leora Freedman, the CSU's vice chancellor for Human Resources. “Improving our civil rights complaint and investigation processes and our prevention education work for the benefit of our students, our faculty and our staff is a significant part of this work. The cases involve difficult and painful situations that are stressful for the individuals affected, but we are striving to make the complaint and resolution process as productive, prompt and fair as possible."
A Complex Role With Complex Rules
So what is Title IX, and what does the Title IX staff do?
In short, Title IX is a federal law that protects students and employees against all forms of sex or gender discrimination, including sexual harassment, dating and domestic violence, other forms of sexual misconduct, stalking and retaliation.
Title IX staff works to stop, prevent and remedy sexual harassment and other forms of sex-based discrimination and violence at the university by receiving complaints, conducting investigations, providing support and resources to parties involved in the complaint process, conducting prevention education and coordinating efforts across the CSU to ensure that Title IX policy, programs and awareness campaigns are up-to-date and effective.
The work is complicated by the fact that, for the past dozen or so years, the state and federal rules governing the Title IX landscape have changed dramatically—resulting in a complex series of new and sometimes inconsistent requirements and expectations. For example, an initial set of federal regulations was issued in May 2020. These regulations required the CSU to update its nondiscrimination policy by August 2020. In response to the federal regulations, California passed Senate Bill 493 (SB 493) which outlined a list of other expectations and obligations for institutions of higher education to follow—some of which directly conflicted with the federal Title IX regulations. The adoption of SB 493 resulted in the CSU's existing “three track" complaint resolution process.
Most recently, in spring 2024, the federal government issued a new set of regulations for Title IX protections, adding in standards to protect against sex-based harassment and discrimination, and to promote accountability and fairness. The CSU and other universities have until August to get those new standards into place and update their nondiscrimination policies.
“Putting this in context, this will now be the third time in four years that the CSU has had to completely revise our nondiscrimination policy to align with new laws and regulations," says Hayley Schwartzkopf, the CSU's new associate vice chancellor for Civil Rights Programs and Services. “That's incredibly hard on students, employees and civil rights practitioners, and why one of our main objectives as we continue to build out our team is to bring more stability across the system."
The CSU is also striving to improve communications so that the whole process can be clearer for those parties involved in an investigation, as well as for the larger university community.
“The cases that we work on involve private and sensitive matters. We need to provide information to our communities so that they understand and trust our processes while respecting individual privacy," says Freedman. “We need to give our community confidence that the process makes sense, that we're following it, and that it's fair. We're not always going to be able to explain outcomes at the level of detail people might want, but we will give as much information as we can to assure our community of their safety and of the fairness of our processes."
Freedman adds that the communications piece is an indispensable part of the Title IX rebuilding process because the community often draws negative inferences when they lack information or don't understand the process.
“It's really a twofold initiative—to improve our processes and also to do a better job of explaining what we're doing and why things take the time they need to take," says Freedman.
Building a Statewide Team
To strengthen its Title IX program—and to carry out the Cozen and state auditors' report recommendations—the CSU has created a centralized Office of Civil Rights Programming and Services. The CSU is also continuing to increase staffing at the system and university levels, establish uniform standards and training programs, and develop more robust data collection and tracking systems.
As it assembles its new team, the CSU has focused on bringing in uniquely qualified individuals who can wear many hats: Title IX leaders need to be fully informed about the latest laws, regulations and other legal developments, and they need to be fair, compassionate and organized.
The revamped structure is designed to foster and maintain a culture of care, mutual respect and trust, recognizing the sensitivities of those who come to Title IX and DHR staff for support and the anxiety that those individuals may have experienced.
“You need team members who can humanize the work through a trauma- informed lens and provide trauma-informed care, as well as leadership skills to navigate those situations," says Schwartzkopf. “In addition, Title IX team members help with the intake of reports, providing training, and facilitating strategies aimed at prevention. These are critical roles and we demand a lot."
The new central leadership team includes Schwartzkopf, a Title IX veteran, as well as five systemwide directors who each have extensive experience in related issues and in many cases, at Title IX offices at CSU universities. The team currently includes Alex Pursley, who had been a deputy Title IX coordinator at CSUN; Sarah Clegg, who had previously been Title IX coordinator at Sonoma State; Laura Anson, who had overseen discrimination, harassment, retaliation and whistleblower complaints at the Chancellor's Office; Lele Yutzy, who served as a civil rights attorney for the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights; and Jessica Brown, who served as a Title IX Coordinator, investigator, and hearing officer for different institutions of higher education across the country. In addition, Sue McCarthy, who had previously served as the systemwide Title IX coordinator, will assume a new role developing and leading prevention education and training efforts.
Together, these systemwide directors will work with campuses across the state in a regional structure. The goal here, says Schwartzkopf, is to enable each systemwide director to assist with planning, training, and sharing resources and best practices across a regional group of universities.
Beyond the systemwide directors are the civil rights attorneys in the Office of General Counsel, who partner with the systemwide directors to support an assigned region. Furthermore, every CSU campus will continue to have a dedicated Title IX office and staff, including the Title IX Coordinator, as well as a confidential Sexual Assault Victim Advocate to provide support to students and employees. The CSU is also working to expand resources on our university campuses to support respondents.
Schwartzkopf says the goal is to have all the major structural pieces in place a year from now, and to have individual universities all feel supported through their processes and procedures, where the process is widely understood and trusted.
And furthermore, this new structure may even help to lead the way for institutions of higher education throughout the nation in this important area.
“Ultimately the work of civil rights practitioners is to ensure that the living, learning, and working environment for our students and employees is free from discrimination and harassment; and where their concerns are reported, they feel supported, and that their concerns are addressed promptly and effectively," says Schwartzkopf.