On Friday, April 19, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) announced that it has officially opened eight new Title IX investigations, Dickinson College among them.

According to the notice sent to the college, OCR is also investigating a disability discrimination claim regarding the accessibility of the college’s website for the visually impaired.

According to the U.S. Department of Education’s website, Title IX is part of the 1972 Education Amendments. Title IX states; “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

According to an email sent by Interim President Neil Weissman to trustees, faculty and staff on Thursday, April 18, the Title IX investigation is “a complaint of sex discrimination by a student related to the student’s fall 2015 report of sexual assault.”

Interim Title IX Coordinator, Joyce Bylander, stated that under federal law, she was not able to provide further information on this case.

However, Bylander maintained that reports of violations of the College’s Sexual Harassment and Misconduct Policy can be received by any college employee. The report is then sent to Bylander for further investigation.

According to Bylander, most cases only get to the federal level if the college sends the authorities a report of the incident.

“Reports of certain violations of the college’s Sexual Harassment and Misconduct Policy are shared with federal authorities annually when the college makes its annual campus security report under the Campus Crimes Statistics Act…” she said. “Otherwise, the federal government does not become involved in our process unless a complaint is filed with OCR.”

According to Bylander, the OCR did not investigate a complaint against Dickinson since 2011, when the OCR published its ‘Dear Colleague Letter,’ stating that sexual assault and harassment were now also included in Title IX.

In regards to the second investigation about the website’s accessibility, Weissman’s letter stressed that “substantial resources” had been allocated to the creation and maintenance of a website that was accessible to the visually impaired.

“We are confident that the modest concerns raised in the complaint have already been remedied by the college,” the letter reads.

According to Robert Renaud, vice president and chief information officer for Library and Information Services (LIS), the college has tried to make the website accessible to visibly impaired individuals since 2014.

“Dickinson College’s website has been accessible by those with visual impairments since 2014,” he stated. “Our work on achieving accessibility began in 2011-2012 with our website redesign where accessibility was one of our target objectives.”

In his general email to the community, Weissman stressed that the college is fully cooperating with the OCR investigations.

“We have pledged our full cooperation with OCR. Dickinson College is committed to a campus free from discrimination on any basis. Nothing is more important than the welfare of our students. Sexual assault is unacceptable and runs counter to Dickinson’s fundamental values. The college has devoted significant resources to the prevention of and effective response to sexual assault.” He continued,  “Where conduct violates college policy, we take strong disciplinary action designed to eliminate the conduct, prevent recurrence and address its effects.”

Bylander and Renaud have also pledged to cooperate fully with the OCR investigations.