Suffolk Law Student Handbook

B. Determining the Investigation Approach Upon report of Sexual Misconduct to the Director of Title IX Compliance, whether directly from a Complainant or from another source, such as a Responsible Employee, Title IX requires the University to take prompt, reasonable action in response to the information received. The Director of Title IX Compliance must assess and determine whether there is sufficient basis to initiate a Title IX investigation or take other steps to address the effects of the alleged Sexual Misconduct on the impacted party and the University community and prevent its recurrence. The Director of Title IX Compliance, or designee, will meet with the impacted party, when possible, to provide information about a Title IX investigation. Before beginning an investigation, the Director of Title IX Compliance, or designee, will contact the impacted party and request consent from the impacted party to proceed to an investigation. An investigation may still go forward even if the impacted party refuses consent, if appropriate, subject to the balancing test provided by the Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights’ April 4, 2011 Dear Colleague Letter, which states that in such cases, institutions should balance the following factors: • The seriousness of the alleged misconduct, including whether a weapon was involved; • The impacted party’s age; • Whether the misconduct was committed by multiple assailants; • Whether the misconduct included threatening behavior by the harasser or assailant against the impacted party; • Whether there exists prior misconduct complaints about the same individual, including prior arrests or history of violence at another institution; and • Whether the misconduct involves a pattern at a given location or by a particular group. The alleged student harasser or Respondent’s rights to receive information about the allegations if the information is maintained by the school as an “education record” under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), 20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 C.F.R. Part 99.1. In some instances, if the Director of Title IX Compliance does not initiate an investigation, the matter may be referred to another process such as referring to a University administrator (i.e. the Dean of Students or Chief Human Resources Officer to manage a concern on behalf of the Director of Title IX Compliance and in lieu of an investigation under this policy. In some instances, such as where the concern described does not fall within the scope of Prohibited Conduct, an investigation may not go forward.

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