The University of Michigan continues to make progress toward creating a team dedicated to representing the interests of the campus community on future policies, procedures and prevention efforts related to sexual and gender-based misconduct.
The Coordinated Community Response Team, which launched earlier this summer, is soliciting nominations to fill critical roles on the team representing key areas from the Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses and the broader community.
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In addition, a new website launched Sept. 1 to support the CCRT, and the first of several community listening sessions have been scheduled for this fall.
“The immediate focus for the team is to identify priorities for the CCRT’s first year and establish working group focus areas,” said Rebecca Leitman Veidlinger, an external expert with experience evaluating institutional responses to sexual misconduct and identifying areas for improvement. She is one of three CCRT co-chairs.
“All members of the campus community are encouraged to offer ideas and suggestions for addressing sexual and gender-based misconduct on the U-M campuses,” she said.
Sandra Levitsky, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and associate professor of sociology in LSA, and Tamiko Strickman, special adviser to the president and executive director of the Equity, Civil Rights and Title IX Office, also are CCRT co-chairs.
Community suggestions are being accepted through the “Make a suggestion” feature on the CCRT website. Small, targeted group listening sessions will be used to better understand community experiences with the university’s systems for preventing and responding to sexual misconduct.
Sessions for staff have been scheduled for September, with additional sessions being planned for faculty, graduate students, undergraduate students and other campus groups.
The CCRT was established as one of the institutional changes made at the university as part of a class-action lawsuit settled earlier this year.
Its membership was informed by the settlement and is designed to include individuals in particular roles at U-M, such as Title IX coordinators on each campus, as well individuals representing key areas including Human Resources and Academic Human Resources, Michigan Medicine, Athletics, survivors, respondents and community partners including SafeHouse and the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office. A full list of members and units represented on the team is available on the website.
“The CCRT is designed to draw on the considerable experience and expertise of individuals across the university community to better inform Michigan’s policies and practices around sexual misconduct,” Levitsky said.
Once complete, the CCRT will consist of about 30-40 representatives who will meet regularly to identify priorities, conduct research and develop recommendations for university leadership on a wide range of approaches to prevent and address misconduct on campus.
Each working group will focus on a particular topic with specific tasks and measurable goals, as well as the responsibility of developing a clear set of recommendations for the university president.
Proposed working group topic areas to be finalized by the team, include:
- Prevention.
- Transformative justice.
- Repairing harm and reestablishing trust.
- Communication of policy and best practices.
- Organizational structure.
- Eliminating obstacles to reporting.
In addition, the CCRT is preparing to provide information directly to faculty, staff and students by attending scheduled meetings with campus partners. Units interested in having CCRT members attend a meeting of their employees or students are encouraged to contact the team at ccresponseteam@umich.edu.
