KU sex assault task force sets schedule for year

Kansas University’s Sexual Assault Task Force outlined its schedule for the rest of the school year Friday, including a goal to present recommendations to the chancellor in April.

Friday’s meeting was the second for the task force, which Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little ordered in September amid accusations that KU is failing to adequately investigate sexual assault and punish alleged assailants.

Even though the group is scheduled to finalize recommendations late in the spring semester, task force co-chairwoman Alesha Doan said she hopes members will begin making suggestions sooner. Doan is chairwoman of the Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies and an associate professor of political science.

The group’s tentative calendar features a field trip to the U.S. Army Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention Academy at Fort Leavenworth, to learn about the Army’s program. Proposed guest speakers at task force meetings include representatives from GaDuGi SafeCenter and Willow Domestic Violence Center, KU Office of Institutional Opportunity and Access and organizations that deal with victim support.

The task force spent most of Friday’s meeting in executive session with Rachel Rolf, an attorney for KU.

Rolf said that portion of the meeting would be closed to the public because of attorney-client privilege, as she would be giving task force members legal advice. Agenda items covered were KU’s jurisdiction, sanctions for on- and off-campus crimes and jurisdiction of KU’s Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities.