Notices of outside reviews

During the fall semester, Baylor Interim President David E. Garland informed the Baylor family about two outside investigations--one with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the other with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC).

A statement from Garland in October noted the university's pledge for full cooperation during the OCR Title IX review. The statement included that Baylor had made significant progress on more than 90 percent of the 105 recommendations from Pepper Hamilton to improve the university's response to sexual violence.

"Should the OCR identify additional areas of improvement, we will work on those immediately," the statement read.

In December, Garland informed faculty and staff that Baylor had received verbal notice that SACSCOC issued a one-year "warning" for noncompliance in three areas.

"We provided SACSCOC with documentation of our procedures, processes and improvements across a wide range of areas. We also noted that almost all of the shortcomings identified by Pepper Hamilton occurred around past practices, the vast majority of which had already been addressed or would be addressed imminently through the implementation of the recommendations," Garland said.

"I believe this warning sanction was to be expected given the shortcomings identified, the media exposure and the public release of the Pepper Hamilton findings. We received the lesser of the two sanctions because of the quick action taken in May, when the Findings of Fact and Recommendation documents were published. SACSCOC needs the one-year period to review documentation and effectiveness of the reforms and measures we have taken. Documentation and continued improvement are key."

For more information, visit baylor.edu/thefacts/