The University responded today to a federal request for information about UNC’s handling of sexual assault.
The request, made by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, mandated that UNC submit all documents, policies and data surrounding sexual assault by March 21.
The University will release its response to The Daily Tar Heel Friday, once names and other private information have been redacted, said Karen Moon, director of UNC News Services.
The requested documents, which include detailed descriptions of training and grievance procedures and a spreadsheet of all student complaints of sexual harassment, will be used by the federal office to investigate UNC’s handling of sexual assault.
The office announced its opening of an investigation at UNC in a March 1 letter to Chancellor Holden Thorp.
The investigation was opened after a complaint was filed by three students, one former student and one former administrator with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights on Jan. 16, accusing the University of creating a hostile environment for survivors reporting sexual assault.
“We realize what we have done up until now is not perfect,” said Thorp in an interview Thursday. “We have work to do.”
He said this investigation — like others that UNC has recently undergone — will make the University a better place.
“This particular one is unbelievably important and goes right to the success of the University, in terms of our students feeling safe here and not undergoing things that make it hard for them to succeed academically,” Thorp said.
