Last month, college President Dr. Jianping Wang signed a resolution agreement with federal Department of Education that outlines how the college will resolve the issues.
WEST WINDSOR -- A federal Department of Education investigation into Mercer County Community College's (MCCC) handling of Title IX sex discrimination complaints found several regulatory deficiencies, which the college has said they are already remedying.
Last month, college President Dr. Jianping Wang signed a resolution agreement with the Education department (DOE) that outlines how the college will resolve the issues. The four-point agreement also includes how MCCC will also report their progress back to the DOE.
Title IX is the federal legislation that protects discrimination based on sex in educational programs and activities that receive federal money.
The agreement states the college will:
- take steps to clearly and adequately notify all new and existing students and employees of the name and contact information of the college's Title IX coordinator, revise its existing nondiscrimination notice to state that Title IX inquiries can be referred to the college's Title IX coordinator or to the DOE, and ensure the notice is published in all college publications that reach all students, faculty and staff.
- revise its grievance procedures that address complaints of sex discrimination - including sexual harassment, sexual assault, and sexual violence - to ensure they provide prompt and equitable resolution of complaints.
- by Jan. 31, 2016, review all complaints filed since academic year 2014-2015 to determine whether each complaint was handled consistent with Title IX criteria set by the DOE.
- by January 30, 2016, and going forward annually, provide training to its Title IX coordinator, any other college officials who will be directly involved in processing, investigating, or resolving Title IX complaints. Also, the college will provide training to anyone likely to witness or receive reports of sexual violence, including employees, professors, college law enforcement or security personnel, administrators, counselors, lawyers, coaches and health personnel.
The resolution agreement Wang signed was sent anonymously to NJ Advance Media and later confirmed and supplied by the DOE, which also supplied a letter the DOE sent to Wang outlining the investigation.
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The letter says the department received a complaint that MCCC failed to adopt and publish grievance procedures for the prompt and equitable resolution of Title IX complaints alleging sex discrimination.
The DOE said in the letter they investigated the complaint and also looked further into the college's Title IX policies.
College spokesman Jim Gardner said the college is unaware who made the complaint, that it was filed anonymously with the DOE earlier this calendar year, and the college has already made the improvements and publicized the Title IX procedures more on campus.
"We know of no lingering matters in this regard," Gardner said.
Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.
