A task force formed to examine how the College of William & Mary handles claims of sexual assault and sexual harassment will issue a final report before the end of the academic year.
College president Taylor Reveley announced the task force’s intentions in an email to members of the William & Mary community Dec. 17.
“We must have a campus where people live, learn, and work while being safe, and feeling safe,” Reveley said in the email. “We have made progress. We will keep making progress.”
William & Mary was one of 55 colleges and universities across the county to come under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education in May for allegedly mishandling sexual assault and harassment on campus, violating the gender equality law.
The number of universities under investigation has since increased to 85. The other Virginia schools under investigation are James Madison University, the University of Richmond, the University of Virginia and the Virginia Military Institute.
As the college waits for the task force to produce its report, Reveley said William & Mary would pursue several objectives to address the issues of sexual assault and harassment on campus.
The college will make sure reports of sexual assault or sexual harassment receive “prompt, effective, and sensitive” responses. To that end, college officials will investigate allegations “as quickly as possible” and ensure due process for all parties involved.
Reveley also said the college would pursue additional training and education for students, faculty and staff on how to prevent sexual violence and how to assist “those in crisis.”
“We will lead on this important issue,” Reveley said. “William & Mary was the first university in Virginia to have a mandatory program about sexual violence as part of freshmen orientation. We will continue to learn and lead.”
The college established the sexual assault and harassment task force in October, with vice president for student affairs Ginger Ambler as its chair. At the time, Ambler said its purpose was to “improve [and] innovate” the college’s response to allegations of sexual assault and harassment.
Part of the task force’s charge was collecting input from members of the public on the issue of campus sexual assault, which can be submitted electronically at William & Mary’s website.
