The University of Michigan’s Office for Institutional Equity is creating an advisory committee of students, faculty and staff to provide perspectives and input on policies, procedures, prevention efforts and other matters related to sexual and gender-based misconduct.
Members of the Title IX Coordinator Advisory Committee will work closely with Title IX Coordinator Elizabeth Seney, who also serves as senior associate director of OIE. Also working with the advisory panel will be Brigid Hart-Molloy, who joined OIE this month as deputy Title IX coordinator and assistant director of OIE.
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“Our hope is that the advisory committee will provide a more structured process for getting critical feedback from all aspects of the university community,” said Seney, who leads the OIE efforts to review or investigate reports of sexual and gender-based misconduct within the university community.
She said the overall advisory group will be subdivided into four constituency groups — faculty, staff, graduate students and undergraduate students — with quarterly meetings of each group. There will be up to 10 members appointed in each subgroup.
Once each fall and winter term, up to three representatives from each subcommittee will meet together with the Title IX coordinator to review matters that have been raised.
Seney said she hoped the application and nomination process would bring forth names of individuals who are willing to help shape the future of the university’s work around sexual and gender-based misconduct.
She said individuals are welcome to nominate themselves or others. The nomination process has been extended through April 16, during Sexual Assault Prevention Month.
Seney said the purpose of advisory committee is to:
- Provide student, faculty and staff perspectives and input on policies, procedures and other matters related to sexual and gender-based misconduct.
- Provide student feedback on and recommendations for prevention efforts.
- Assist in identifying student, faculty and staff concerns and emerging trends.
- Provide insight into student, faculty and staff awareness of university policies, resources and reporting options, and recommend how to increase faculty and staff knowledge of and confidence in reporting and resolution processes.
- Provide information to other students, faculty members and staff regarding university policies, procedures and prevention efforts related to sexual and gender-based misconduct.
Hart-Molloy joined the OIE staff earlier this month after serving as deputy Title IX and equal opportunity coordinator at Northeastern University in Boston, where she earlier worked as an investigator in the Office for University Equity and Compliance.
A Michigan native, Hart-Molloy brings extensive investigative experience and expertise in policy making, policy enforcement and community support in the area of non-discrimination. She is a graduate of Grand Valley State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish, and earned her law degree from New England Law-Boston.
Update: This story has been amended from its original version to reflect an extended deadline for nominating committee members, and to include a link to the committee membership.
