May 24, 2018
Dear Colleagues,
Ensuring the University of Oregon has an inclusive and welcoming campus for students, staff, faculty, and the community is a top institutional priority. We must continuously look for ways to strengthen and enhance efforts to address and reduce incidents of discrimination and harassment. To further these efforts, the UO is consolidating its Title IX and Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity offices under a newly formed Office of Civil Rights Compliance. The new unit will be led by Darci Heroy, current associate vice president and Title IX coordinator, and will report directly to the president with dotted lines to the vice president for student life and vice president for finance and administration.
The move to streamline operations and merge these investigatory functions aligns the UO with emerging best practices within higher education as institutions across the country seek to improve consistency and coordination of policies and processes for investigating and responding to all forms of discrimination and harassment. The new Office of Civil Rights Compliance will bolster the UO’s investigatory capabilities, reduce confusion about where to report, and ultimately improve our ability to respond to and resolve a variety of civil rights complaints.
The restructuring will bring together two offices that have similar investigatory roles on the UO’s campus. The Title IX office is responsible for institutional oversight of all complaints related to gender discrimination and sexual harassment. The AAEO office is responsible for managing complaints of other discriminatory or harassing behavior, including discrimination based on race, age, disability, or national origin. The two offices already work closely on a variety of issues and initiatives, and we believe they will function even more effectively as a combined unit with consistent processes, oversight, and management of all claims of discrimination at the UO.
Other important functions of the AAEO office, such as disability accommodations and affirmative action reporting, will remain in the Office of Human Resources portfolio. Under this new structure, there will no longer be a separate AAEO office or director.
People involved as a complainant or respondent in an outstanding case with either the AAEO or Title IX office will have their cases continue without interruption.
In the coming weeks and months, the Office of Civil Rights Compliance will roll out new tools for reporting any incident of harassment or discrimination. During the transition period, here are the key contacts:
- For questions about issues related to all prohibited discrimination and harassment, employee reporting obligations, or to make a report, you can contact Darci Heroy (non-confidential) at 541-346-8136 or titleixcoordinator@uoregon.edu.
- For concerns involving students, contact the confidential crisis staff in the Dean of Students Office at 541-346-3216, via the SAFE line at 541-346-SAFE, or visit SAFE.uoregon.edu.
- For questions or information related to workplace disability accommodations contact Martin Stanberry, ADA coordinator, (non-confidential) at 541-346-2985 or martin@uoregon.edu.
- For questions or information related to affirmative action, contact Judy Rideout, senior affirmative action specialist, at 541-346-2942 or jbr@uoregon.edu.
We believe this new structure will continue to improve our investigation and response functions, and ultimately better serve our university community. If you have any questions or concerns feel free to reach out to any of us. You can also connect with Darci Heroy at 541-346-8136 or titleixcoordinator@uoregon.edu.
Sincerely,
Michael H. Schill
President and Professor of Law
Jamie Moffitt
Vice President for Finance and Administration
R. Kevin Marbury
Vice President for Student Life