Freep alert:
https://www.freep.com/story/news/lo...ichigan-state-title-ix-robert-kent/732249002/
You can't make this stuff up. So they need someone to be interim head their Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Education and Compliance, and they naturally (for them) hire a lawyer who defended them AGAINST sexual assault lawsuits. The guy arguing against victims now is supposed to head the office where victims (theoretically) should go to for justice. Engler is doubling down on giving the middle finger to sexual assault victims at MSU.
Some excerpts from the article:
A Michigan State University attorney who defended the institution against sexual assault lawsuits is now heading the office handling sexual assault complaints — a move that is drawing criticism from victim advocates.
This month, Robert Kent was moved out of his assistant general counsel position and into the job of interim associate vice president of the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Education and Compliance — a decision made by MSU Interim President John Engler that is drawing scrutiny from critics, who say the move could send a discouraging messagefrom the university.
"At every turn, they signal an unwillingness to deal with the culture, and a message to survivors that their voices don’t matter," said Rachael Denhollander, the first Larry Nassar sex assault victim to come forth publicly. She said, in her view, the appointment of Kent to handle Title IX cases was the latest in a string of insensitive moves.
Kent, the news release says, now is "responsible for the departments that investigate civil rights and Title IX complaints and that are responsible for prevention, education and outreach efforts."
Experts, though, questioned the decision to appoint an attorney with a history of defending the university against lawsuits that have alleged Title IX violations.
Earlier this month, Kent withdrew from representing MSU and university officials in three lawsuits filed by women who have said they were sexually assaulted. Filings in each case requesting that he be replaced by attorneys from the law firm Pepper Hamilton say Kent “is taking a different position at Michigan State University.”
One lawsuit Kent withdrew from was filed by a woman accusing MSU of mishandling her sexual assault complaint against a football player. The lawsuit alleges, among other claims, that MSU took too long to conduct the investigation and failed to ensure the woman and man she had accused would not run into each other on campus.
Kent wrote in a court filing that "mere delays in the disciplinary process, or a school's failure to follow its internal policies and procedures, do not rise to the level of deliberate indifference." And even if the woman "were able to prove that MSU's actions constitute deliberate indifference (which she does not), she cannot show that MSU's actions caused her to suffer any additional harassment by her alleged assailant — in fact, she never saw the man again."
Another lawsuit Kent withdrew from was filed in April by a woman alleging MSU counseling staff discouraged her from reporting that she had been raped by three basketball players. The university issued a statement in responseto the lawsuit that detailed the woman’s counseling center history, may have violated a federal student privacy law and endangered grant funding for sexual assault counseling services.
Emails obtained by the Free Press show Kent was involved in the crafting of that controversial response.
Brenda Tracy, a nationally known victim rights advocate and rape survivor, said her impression is Engler "just wants survivors to go away and shut up." Kent's appointment, she said, could make victims too uncomfortable to report assaults.
"Who will want to go to a Title IX office ... being led by one of the spearheads of protecting the MSU brand?" Tracy said. "It’s appalling to me. Part of his job … protecting MSU and its brand is picking apart survivors. There’s a way to help survivors and still help their brand. I think if you are protecting survivors, you are building a brand that it is safe here. You are telling parents you want to send your kids here because if something happens, we will take care of them.
"This doesn’t do that."
John Clune, an attorney based in Boulder, Colorado, who handles cases related to sexual assault on campuses, said a Title IX coordinator should be someone not influenced by litigation and liability concerns. That could be difficult for a person who has a background defending the university, he said.
Clune said the appearance from a student standpoint could raise concerns about “whether his focus is on, you know, compliance and best practices versus liability issues.”
https://www.freep.com/story/news/lo...ichigan-state-title-ix-robert-kent/732249002/
You can't make this stuff up. So they need someone to be interim head their Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Education and Compliance, and they naturally (for them) hire a lawyer who defended them AGAINST sexual assault lawsuits. The guy arguing against victims now is supposed to head the office where victims (theoretically) should go to for justice. Engler is doubling down on giving the middle finger to sexual assault victims at MSU.
Some excerpts from the article:
A Michigan State University attorney who defended the institution against sexual assault lawsuits is now heading the office handling sexual assault complaints — a move that is drawing criticism from victim advocates.
This month, Robert Kent was moved out of his assistant general counsel position and into the job of interim associate vice president of the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Education and Compliance — a decision made by MSU Interim President John Engler that is drawing scrutiny from critics, who say the move could send a discouraging messagefrom the university.
"At every turn, they signal an unwillingness to deal with the culture, and a message to survivors that their voices don’t matter," said Rachael Denhollander, the first Larry Nassar sex assault victim to come forth publicly. She said, in her view, the appointment of Kent to handle Title IX cases was the latest in a string of insensitive moves.
Kent, the news release says, now is "responsible for the departments that investigate civil rights and Title IX complaints and that are responsible for prevention, education and outreach efforts."
Experts, though, questioned the decision to appoint an attorney with a history of defending the university against lawsuits that have alleged Title IX violations.
Earlier this month, Kent withdrew from representing MSU and university officials in three lawsuits filed by women who have said they were sexually assaulted. Filings in each case requesting that he be replaced by attorneys from the law firm Pepper Hamilton say Kent “is taking a different position at Michigan State University.”
One lawsuit Kent withdrew from was filed by a woman accusing MSU of mishandling her sexual assault complaint against a football player. The lawsuit alleges, among other claims, that MSU took too long to conduct the investigation and failed to ensure the woman and man she had accused would not run into each other on campus.
Kent wrote in a court filing that "mere delays in the disciplinary process, or a school's failure to follow its internal policies and procedures, do not rise to the level of deliberate indifference." And even if the woman "were able to prove that MSU's actions constitute deliberate indifference (which she does not), she cannot show that MSU's actions caused her to suffer any additional harassment by her alleged assailant — in fact, she never saw the man again."
Another lawsuit Kent withdrew from was filed in April by a woman alleging MSU counseling staff discouraged her from reporting that she had been raped by three basketball players. The university issued a statement in responseto the lawsuit that detailed the woman’s counseling center history, may have violated a federal student privacy law and endangered grant funding for sexual assault counseling services.
Emails obtained by the Free Press show Kent was involved in the crafting of that controversial response.
Brenda Tracy, a nationally known victim rights advocate and rape survivor, said her impression is Engler "just wants survivors to go away and shut up." Kent's appointment, she said, could make victims too uncomfortable to report assaults.
"Who will want to go to a Title IX office ... being led by one of the spearheads of protecting the MSU brand?" Tracy said. "It’s appalling to me. Part of his job … protecting MSU and its brand is picking apart survivors. There’s a way to help survivors and still help their brand. I think if you are protecting survivors, you are building a brand that it is safe here. You are telling parents you want to send your kids here because if something happens, we will take care of them.
"This doesn’t do that."
John Clune, an attorney based in Boulder, Colorado, who handles cases related to sexual assault on campuses, said a Title IX coordinator should be someone not influenced by litigation and liability concerns. That could be difficult for a person who has a background defending the university, he said.
Clune said the appearance from a student standpoint could raise concerns about “whether his focus is on, you know, compliance and best practices versus liability issues.”
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