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NCHERM Newsletter

Spring 2005

Welcome

Hello friends and colleagues.  Welcome to the Spring 2005 NCHERM Newsletter.

The sections in this newsletter include:

1) Updates on NCHERM news and activities
2) NCHERM Launches a New Weekly E-zine
3) Upcoming NCHERM Seminars and Presentations
4) Exciting!!! — New NCHERM Judicial Training Video Available
5) Booking Student Programs for Fall 2005
6) Free Whitepaper: The Typology of Campus Sexual Misconduct Complaints

View the NCHERM Newsletter Spring 2005 in PDF format.

1) Updates on NCHERM news and activities

Alan Berkowitz and Brett Sokolow recently presented a two-day seminar on alcohol and sexual assault culture change at Catawba College in NC. We had almost 50 participants each day, and a very engaging dialogue. Thanks, Catawba, for hosting.

Brett, Cori and Gabrielle Sokolow attended the ASJA conference in Clearwater, FL. Brett was jealous that Gabrielle got all the attention! NCHERM was a sponsor at the conference this year, and gave away one free conference registration and gave a $500 grant to reimburse someone who came to the conference at their own expense. The winner was Dr. Barbara Fienman, from Suffolk University. Congrats, Barbara. Brett also dropped in quickly at the Stetson Conference on Law in Higher Education. It was nice to see so many of you at these two excellent events.

Brett will be at both NASPA and ACPA and looks forward to seeing you at those conferences, if you are planning to go. If you want to schedule a time to sit down and have a drink or a meal, please contact him to plan a time in advance. (610) 993-0229 or basokolow@aol.com.

2) NCHERM Launches a New Weekly E-Zine

On February 18th, 2005, NCHERM published the first issue of The Chronicle of Campus Conduct. This is a weekly, quick-reading, practical publication, dedicated solely to the topic of the administration of campus conduct. For the first two months, it will be uploaded on Fridays to the ASJA members’ listserv, and will thereafter be archived at www.ncherm.org in the Newsletters section for access by those of you who are not ASJA members. Starting April 15th, CCC will become subscription-based. An individual subscription is $229.99 for a year. An institutional subscription is $299.99, and you will be entitled to add as many e-mail addresses to our distribution list from your institution as you want. Brett Sokolow is CCC's Editor-in-Chief and CCC’s staff of a dozen contributing editors promises challenging and engaging topics for you each week. Please check out the archived copies on our website, and if you like what you read, please subscribe. To order, please download the subscription form and fax it to NCHERM at (610) 993-0228

Download the CCC Subscription Form  PDF

*PDFs require the Acrobat Reader.

3) Upcoming NCHERM Seminars and Presentations

Friday, April 22nd, 2005—A Civil Rights Approach to Campus Sexual Violence

This 90-minute audioseminar will be co-presented by Brett A. Sokolow, J.D. and Saundra K. Schuster, J.D. The focus of this audioseminar is on viewing campus sexual violence not just as a student conduct issue, but as federal civil rights issue governed by Title IX, an anti-discrimination statute. Best practices for reporting, confidentiality, resolutions, investigation and risk management will be shared. Key questions will be addressed, including:

1) Why must colleges address campus sexual violence?
2) How do the Gebser and Davis Supreme Court cases tie Title IX to sexual assault?
3) What do actual notice and deliberate indifference mean as legal standards?
4) What mandates for reporting does Title IX place on college employees?
5) What a "prompt and equitable" resolution requirement means?
6) What is the best practice for dealing with a "reluctant victim"?
7) What does a civil rights investigation process look like, as an alternative to the adversarial hearing, when applied to date rape, and what are the benefits?
8) What about Title IX should we know in a practical, take this back to campus and apply it, sense? Including off-campus jurisdiction, non-student victims, the promptness of the complaint, OCR investigations, etc.

Click for details and registration forms.

Friday, April 29th, 2005—Crafting a Code of Conduct for the 21st Century College

This 90-minute audioconference will be presented by Brett A. Sokolow, J.D.. It is intended as a resource for colleges and universities that are updating, revising or re-writing their codes of conduct. Materials will be included. This seminar features a discussion of advanced code-writing techniques, such as:
· Risk management through writing an artful code
· Creating a developmental, educational emphasis within your code
· Creating a values-based code
· Creative use of examples
· Stating expectations for student conduct positively
· Defining key policy terms
· Using policy as a tool of prevention

Click for details and registration forms.

Wednesday and Thursday, June 1st & 2nd, 2005—The Challenge of Educating Students on High-Risk Health and Safety Issues

This seminar is a two-part series, with 90 minutes on each day.
On Wednesday, Alan Berkowitz, Ph.D., will present on The Status of Men’s Education on Sexual Violence. Alan will discuss the current state of educational models for and by men to address sexual violence on college campuses. He will focus on literature reviewing the effectiveness of various male-led and male-directed models, and present best practices for engaging men and empowering men as allies in prevention.

On Thursday, Brett A. Sokolow, J.D. will present on The Challenges of Educating Students on High-Risk Health and Safety Issues. He will discuss various models for mandating programming, providing positive incentives, and delivering programming through curricular, co-curricular, technology-based and extra-curricular models. He will then share his innovative model for a four-year educational strategy for high-risk student health and safety programming. Q&A opportunities will be provided.

These two presentations are designed as companions, and you are welcome to order them separately, or together.

Details and registration forms coming soon.

Thursday, June 23rd, 2005—An Advanced Course on Clery Act Compliance

Presented by Brett A. Sokolow, J.D., from NCHERM and John Wesley Lowery, Ph.D. (Assistant Professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs at the University of South Carolina). This 90-minute audioseminar is not a general overview of the mandates of the Clery Act. It is a specialized, narrowly focused presentation addressing the consistent problem areas that colleges and universities face, including reporting of sex offenses, classification of sex offenses, the hierarchy rule (and the arson exception), reporting liquor, drug and weapons violations (depending on whether they are violations of law and/or policy), collecting data with sufficient breadth, publishing the names of sex offenders, release of outcome/sanctions to victims, timely warnings based on off-campus events, training dispatch/desk clerks on police logs access, unfounding by campus personnel, and the three disclosures almost everyone misses in their annual report. Not only will this training be appropriate for campus law enforcement personnel, but also for student development administrators, and those to whom law enforcement reports institutionally, such as vice presidents for business, finance, administration and student affairs.

Details and registration forms coming soon.

Tuesday, August 9th, 2005—Ten Critical Campus Judicial Training Competencies

This 90-minute audioseminar will focus participants on ten critical competencies for any conduct officer, board member, or judicial affairs administrator with respect to hearing complaints. Co-presented by Brett A. Sokolow, J.D., of NCHERM and W. Scott Lewis, J.D., (Director of Judicial Affairs, the University of South Carolina) with Q&A opportunities, this is a must for trainer training and preparing for fall conduct complaints. From understanding what the standard of proof is and how to use it, to the skill of separating the finding from the decision on sanctions, to understanding how important the policy is in guiding decisionmaking, to how to interpret different types of evidence, this training will provide core skills to help decision-makers with questioning and analysis.

Details and registration forms coming soon.

4) Exciting!!! — New NCHERM Video & DVD Available

On September 23rd, 2004, NCHERM held its videoseminar, Best Practices for Campus Sexual Misconduct Judicial Training at the University of Dayton. The seminar was a great success, with more than one hundred participants at campuses across the country. A digital recording was made, and is now available as a DVD or videotape. It is a four hour recording, featuring facilitation by Brett Sokolow and Saundra K. Schuster (General Counsel to Sinclair Community College and the former Senior Assistant Attorney General for the State of Ohio in the Higher Education Section), and interaction with a live judicial board and judicial boards participating by remote from around the country. This seminar sets the standard for best practices for sexual misconduct judicial training.

Click here for ordering information.

5) Booking Student Programs for Fall 2005

Brett Sokolow continues to offer popular student programs, and Orientation 2005 is booking up already, with visits planned to Illinois, Ohio, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Iowa, Wisconsin and Texas.

“Drunk Sex or Date Rape?” is still the most popular program, and it has now been presented on over 1,000 campuses. This jury exercise really helps students to understand consent, and how it is impacted by alcohol and other drug use.

“Ten Things Every College Student Should Know About Drinking” is a well-received program, and student feedback on it is very positive. You will learn something about alcohol you never knew before, guaranteed.

“What You Don’t Know About Hazing Could Kill You” has been gaining in popularity, with a spike in recent incidents. This innovative program not only addresses hazing from an awareness perspective, but also looks at it as a leadership issue, and a challenge for fraternities, sororities, bands, ROTC groups and other campus organizations.

Contact us today to get on our fall calendar of campus visits. Read the complete list of the dynamic student programs and consulting services offered by Brett Sokolow.

Additionally, please keep in mind that booking Brett Sokolow through Campus Outreach Services is no longer possible—you should call NCHERM directly.

We can be reached at:

NCHERM
20 Callery Way
Malvern, PA 19355
NCHERM@aol.com
(610) 993-0229 Tel.
(610) 993-0228 Fax.

6) Free Article

As with every issue, we try to provide you with a thought-provoking article. Please find the NCHERM 2005 Whitepaper  PDF, just published in February.

2005: The Typology of Campus Sexual Misconduct Complaints  PDF

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Thanks for reading!  We hope you have a great spring.  Please do not hesitate to call on NCHERM if you need us.

If you would prefer not to receive our quarterly newsletter, please e-mail us at NCHERM@ncherm.org and ask to be removed from the subscription list, or use the remove feature within this email.

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