Syracuse University’s course of action after being notified of an ongoing Title IX investigation was unclear, Chancellor Kent Syverud said in a recent interview.

In June, the Department of Education opened an investigation into SU’s handling of a sexual assault case after a former SU student filed a complaint with the department’s Office of Civil Rights.

The complaint alleges that the university failed to “respond promptly or equitably” to a report of sexual assault made on or about May 5, 2015, according to documents obtained by The Daily Orange through the Freedom of Information Act. Further details of the incident were not provided in the request because the investigation is ongoing.

After The Daily Orange reported the ongoing federal investigation, it was revealed members of the highly-touted Chancellor’s Task Force on Sexual and Relationship Violence were not made aware of the investigation.

Syverud said when the university received notice of the investigation, it was not clear to him what the public nature of the notice was and when SU was supposed to take public communication steps in notifying the task force.

“I think we would take that differently today if we could go back then,” Syverud said.

The chancellor noted there are currently hundreds of ongoing Title IX investigations at colleges and universities across the United States.

In SU’s first public statement about the investigation, Sheila Johnson-Willis, interim chief Equal Opportunity and Title IX officer, said there are at least 275 other colleges and universities under investigation for Title IX mishandlings.

SU did not release a public statement about the investigation until one month after it was first reported. The university declined to comment in the statement on any specifics or details of the federal investigation due to privacy reasons.

Despite the delay, Syverud said he thinks the appropriate people were notified of the investigation by the end of the summer.

Said Syverud: “I’m not sure that serious damage was done by that delay, but I think it’s important that it not be repeated.”

Published on October 23, 2016 at 9:22 pm

Contact Sara: smswann@syr.edu | @saramswann