UPDATED: Monday, Feb. 19 at 12:04 a.m.

Two internal Title IX investigations were opened this academic year at Syracuse University after complaints were made against faculty members, according to a document forwarded Friday evening to members of the University Senate.

Thomas Keck, a professor of political science and chair of the Senate committee on Academic Freedom, Tenure and Professional Ethics, wrote in a message to senators dated Feb. 14 that the committee investigated the two cases and reported its findings to the university’s Office of Equal Opportunity, Inclusion and Resolution Services.

Further details about the investigations and their findings were not immediately available. A university spokesperson Sunday evening declined to comment on the investigations. Keck did not immediately return a request for comment on the investigations Friday evening.

The committee on Academic Freedom, Tenure and Professional Ethics is scheduled to provide its annual report at next week’s Senate meeting, scheduled for Wednesday.

On Thursday, the day after Keck’s message was sent, the university announced it had named Sheila Johnson-Willis as the university’s permanent chief equal opportunity and Title IX officer. Johnson-Willis had previously served in that role as an interim officer, a position she was named to in 2015. In November 2017, the university launched a search to fill the position permanently.

SU Chief Human Resources Officer Andrew Gordon said in an SU News release on Thursday that, following a national search, “it became very clear to the search committee” that Johnson-Willis was qualified to serve in the position permanently.

In response to this article, Sarah Scalese, SU’s associate vice president of university communications, said: “It is categorically inaccurate and irresponsible to imply that the appointment of our new chief equal opportunity and Title IX officer is somehow connected to this recent report by the AFTPE Committee.”

The timing of the two investigations also coincides with the Senate’s Agenda committee tasking AFTPE in December with reviewing the university’s policies on relationships between faculty and students and possibly recommending changes to the university’s faculty manual.

In addition to the two internal Title IX cases involving faculty members, the university is also still under federal investigation for its handling of a sexual assault case stemming from a Title IX complaint filed in 2016 by a student.

Published on February 16, 2018 at 8:24 pm

Contact Michael: mdburk01@syr.edu