photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

The University of Kansas campus, pictured in September 2021.

Universities shouldn’t end an investigation into sexual misconduct simply because the employee or student accused of the offense has left the school, one of the leading higher education groups in the country recommends in a new report.

Universities also should consider creating policies that require new employees of the university to sign a consent form that allows their previous employers to release any information related to sustained findings of sexual misconduct at their previous workplaces, the Association of American Universities recommends in its report.

The University of Kansas is a member of the AAU, and KU Chancellor Douglas Girod co-chaired the committee that drafted the report. However, it wasn’t clear Monday morning whether KU has already implemented some of the recommendations from the AAU or whether it intends to do so in the future.

The principles created by the AAU’s Advisory Board on Sexual Harassment in Academia are nonbinding and sometimes allow leeway in how stringently a policy should be crafted. The recommendation on hiring, for instance, says universities should either “request or require” applicants to consent to the release of personnel information from their prior employers.

Such a policy would allow KU to specifically ask past universities or other past employers whether an applicant was the subject of any “substantiated findings” related to sexual harassment or other sexual misconduct.

The Journal-World asked a spokeswoman via email on Monday morning whether KU already has such a policy in place that allows KU to make those types of checks, but has not yet received a response.

For such policies to work, however, other universities likely will need to have a policy in place that allows them to release such information. The AAU is recommending all of its members adopt such a policy that would allow schools to “share substantiated findings of sexual misconduct with prospective employers when requested, upon receipt of written authorization when necessary, and consistent with applicable law.”

The committee, though, also recognized that for those background checks to be effective, universities need to follow through on investigations, even if the person accused of misconduct has left the school.

The Journal-World also has asked the KU spokeswoman whether the university currently has a policy to complete such investigations if the accused has left the school.

The 20-member AAU advisory group approved eight principles that AAU schools should consider adopting. The others include:

• Creating a “climate and culture” where sexual misconduct is “unacceptable” and policies and practices exist to “create a harassment-free learning, living and working environment.”

• Educate the campus community on the policies, and create an expectation of individual behavior, including the importance of reporting incidents and appropriately supporting fellow community members who have experienced sexual misconduct.

• Remove barriers in reporting sexual misconduct, and direct support to “groups who most often experience harassment and other forms of sexual misconduct.”

• Address reports of sexual misconduct in a manner that is “respectful, ethical, appropriately thorough, and timely.”

• “Hold accountable, in a fair and equitable manner, those students, faculty, staff, and administrators at all levels who are found responsible” for sexual misconduct.

“The advisory board undertook a deeply deliberative and informed process to arrive at these principles, which provide tools for all of our campuses to help address the important issue of combating sexual harassment and ensuring the health and safety of each of our communities,” Girod said via a KU news release.

The release did not address any changes KU may make in its policies as a result of the recommendations, but the Journal-World has asked a university spokeswoman whether KU has a process planned to act upon some of the AAU principles.

The new guidance comes at a time when KU leaders have faced protests and received student complaints about a variety of issues related to sexual misconduct, with those concerns being broader than issues of sexual harassment. University leaders have been accused of not responding adequately to reported cases of sexual assault in the university community, while federally compiled crime data shows that in recent years KU’s incidence rates for rape and domestic violence have been higher than average for Big 12 schools.