photo by: Mike Yoder

Demonstrators sit outside Strong Hall on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2014, to protest Kansas University's handling of sexual assault investigations.

An office many Kansas University students had never heard of until the past two years’ uproar over sexual assault and, more recently, racial discrimination is closer to getting a new leader.

Three candidates for the position of director of KU’s Office of Institutional Opportunity and Access will visit campus in early January, according to the office’s website. Their names and resumes are expected to be posted two days prior to each person’s visit. Here’s the schedule for their presentations, which are open to the KU community:

• Candidate No. 1 — 10 to 11 a.m. Jan. 4 at the Kansas Room in the Kansas Union, 1301 Jayhawk Blvd.

• Candidate No. 2 — 10 to 11 a.m. Jan. 6 at the Big 12 Room in the Union.

• Candidate No. 3 — 10 to 11 a.m. Jan. 12 at Alderson Auditorium in the Union.

The Office of Institutional Opportunity and Access investigates reports of sexual harassment — including sexual violence — and other forms of discrimination on campus. The office’s sexual harassment caseload spiked in 2014, which leaders attributed to more awareness about sexual assault and where victims can report it. It’s on my list to find out once numbers become available, but I predict the IOA’s racial discrimination caseload will see a bump after this semester, which included KU’s town hall forum on race and ensuing protests and discussions.

The new IOA director will replace Jane McQueeny, who resigned in October. McQueeny had been director since KU created the office in May 2012. The office currently has four staffers including interim director and investigator Joshua Jones.

The job duties of the new director almost certainly will differ from McQueeny’s tenure in the area of education. While the IOA previously oversaw the campus’ sexual assault training and other educational duties, KU announced this fall that it was creating a new office for that, the Sexual Assault Prevention and Education Center.

• USDE sexual violence cases keep climbing, including at K-State: One part of the nationwide campus sexual assault discussion that drew extra attention to KU is the U.S. Department of Education’s list of universities it is investigating for their handling of sexual violence complaints. KU was placed on that list in July 2014, with a second case added in July 2015 (both stem from the same female student’s rape complaint, which I first wrote about in 2014).

I just got the latest list from the USDE’s Office for Civil Rights, and it looks like the KU cases remain open, as does one opened at Washburn University in July 2014. With two new cases opened just this fall, Kansas State University now has a total of four cases on the list (opened August 2014, April 2015, September 2015 and November 2015).

As of Wednesday there are now a total of 194 cases under investigation at 159 schools nationwide. When I last wrote about “the list” in July, there were 134 cases open nationwide — so they clearly continue to mount much faster than the USDE is resolving them.

• Reach me by email at sshepherd@ljworld.com, by phone at 832-7187, on Twitter @saramarieshep or via Facebook at Facebook.com/SaraShepherdNews.