Heads are spinning?

Apparently the latest debacle for my alma mater is a DoEd report noting various violations of the Clery Act, a federal law which requires reporting of various crimes, especially sexual assault.  Now that's a big deal, as at its heart, the Clery Act simply requires taking all those Title IX reports and making a database.  Ignore the Title IX reports in the Clery Act compliance documentation, and you're in trouble.


But that noted, let's walk through things.  You've got Title IX, the Clery Act, other federal regulations and agencies, state mandatory reporting laws and agencies, and more.  A picture of "how to report" at MSU, moreover, detailed dozens of offices where one could report things, and....the end result is that you've got so many hands in the pot and so many rules with which to comply, heads ought to spin.  It's no way to get justice for those who have been hurt, whether by real sexual assault or false reports.


Once again, it looks like a huge simplification of the Title IX/Clery/etc. apparatus needs to occur.  Yes, train staffers to take allegations seriously, and with the exception of student behavior code violations that are not criminal, that generally will mean informing the person that the complaint is a criminal one and ought to be taken to the police--and that the university will suspend the accused when an arrest or indictment occurs, and expel upon conviction.  "Where to report" would also be a simple document; you can talk to any full time employee of the university, who will generally tell you to talk to the police and offer to go with you.


Worth noting is that that plan eliminates about 98% of the kerfuffle over the DoEd's plans to revamp Title IX regulations.  If we want to take sexual assault seriously, let's take it seriously already.