USC Release Annual Title IX Data to the USC Community

[ellisonz]

PETITION: USC Release Annual Title IX Data to the USC Community

DEMAND: USC Comply With U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights Resolution Agreement Case Number 09-18-6901

By Zachary Ellison, Independent Journalist

This is not a petition published lightly; instead, it reflects more than 2 years of advocacy attempting to get the University of Southern California (USC) to meet its legal obligations. Following one of the largest civil settlements in higher education history made in response to sexual abuse by gynecologist George Tyndall, USC continues to fall short in meeting the promise of “safety and transparency” required of it by the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights. Since February 2020, USC has been legally obligated on an annual basis to release “an “annual letter to the community” reflecting “a written report” from the Title IX Coordinator” to “the President, Provost, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees.” This report is supposed to provide an update “regarding the status of the implementation of the plan, including the actions taken and an assessment of their effectiveness as well as proposals for the next academic year.” Title IX is the nation’s fundamental gender equity law, enacted in 1972.

USC has only met this obligation once since then, this summer in August 2024, but only providing a single year of data from 2021-2022 to the USC Community. This petition demands that USC immediately take steps to remedy this breach by providing data from the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 academic years. USC must then provide the 2024-2025 data once it becomes available at the conclusion of the current academic year and no later than the start of the 2025-2026 academic year. This will begin following the retirement of current President Carol Folt on June 30, 2025. USC is negligent in its legal obligations and has done a grave disservice to its students, who, most certainly, the Daily Trojan found experience a higher rate of sexual violence than occurs at peer institutions based upon the single year of data it’s released.

Link: https://www.change.org/p/usc-release-annual-title-ix-data-to-the-usc-community

[ellisonz]

1. Kick

[niyad]

2. Thank you for posting this. Absolutely disgusting that USC has to be forced to do the correct thing!

[ellisonz]

3. You're welcome! We're up to 39 signatures now. I called them last week and am going to call against tomorrow.

We shouldn't have to demand this, but sadly we do. The U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, is very spotty on enforcement.

Things that are criminally reported are subject to the Clery Act, but complaints below that go on in secrecy. I've encountered 2 plus-year cases at USC, and only after I wrote about them would they offer the victims a hearing.