More than three weeks have passed since the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) released its Title IX agreement with Case Western Reserve University. Over those three weeks, the CWRU administration has not sent out any notice to the student body of this agreement—no email, no official word from President Eric Kaler, nothing. The only indication that they’ve even acknowledged the closing of the investigation is found in a link on the Office of Equity website.
The short article uses incredibly vague language, fails to mention @cwru.survivors—the Instagram account that launched the conversations regarding CWRU’s mishandling of sexual harassment cases—by name and explains that “the DOJ’s findings are not in alignment with [CWRU’s] records or a third-party review.” Only a few paragraphs—some of which cast doubt as to CWRU’s stance on its accountability in the matter—are dedicated to responding to a multi-year investigation where the stories of countless students were ignored is far from acceptable. CWRU wants to emphasize a “continuous focus on the safety and well-being of [its] students,” yet the silence is proving the opposite.
The article does not provide any specific details from the agreement, nor are any plans of action outlined. A summary of the agreement is linked at the bottom, which gives an overview of the future updates to CWRU’s Title IX policy, but no notice was given that this resource is now available. As the summary states, CWRU will “post status updates” and “elevate awareness of the Office of Equity,” and so far, with their continued silence, they’ve already failed.
Of course, changing university policy is not easy and will take a considerable amount of time. Ensuring that CWRU is properly following Title IX is a task that requires the consistent efforts of all university officials in committing to the safety of its students. If CWRU keeps to its promises that it agreed to under oath, then the student body should receive training about sex discrimination starting next spring. Waiting that long, however, would be a disservice to its students.
The lack of a response is alarming considering the recent Title IX scandal enveloping the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) and the student protest on Wednesday in reaction. CIM students are currently facing the egregious inadequacies in CIM’s treatment of sex discrimination cases, a feeling that is unfortunately familiar to many CWRU students and the students of “more than two dozen higher education institutions” where similar student responses have gained traction, as the short article on the Office of Equity website states. Yet CWRU, despite these developments, refuses to update its own student body on how it plans to move forward, repeating the behavior that led to the investigation in the first place.
The university has the opportunity right now to reaffirm its commitment to protecting all students from harassment and abuse. Emailing the student body is a quick, simple way to show that the administration has the students’ best interests in mind. A message from President Kaler himself would help to show where CWRU stands and alleviate concerns that many students have about the future of Title IX on campus. But until students receive a response, the silence of the CWRU administration will continue to speak louder than their supposed promises. Now is the time to act, not later.