September 7, 2017
Dear Members of the Connecticut College Community,
The U.S. Department of Education announced today a public comment period regarding Title IX and processes for addressing sexual assault on college and university campuses. I intend to provide comment as Connecticut College’s president and will work with our many community partners and national organizations as the Department considers changes to federal regulations of campus sexual assault policies.
For those members of our community who wish to provide written, public comment on this important student safeguard policy, I encourage you to do so directly with the Department of Education: https://www.ed.gov/. The comment section will open in the coming days on this page.
I want to assure you that while we will track any changes to the federal regulations to uphold our continued compliance, I am proud of and committed to the work we have done in recent years to educate community members about sexual assault, provide robust support to survivors, and ensure that our policies and procedures are fair to all parties.
There are many resources available to our community through the Office of Sexual Violence Prevention and Advocacy. I encourage you to take advantage of programming and training opportunities offered throughout the year—the next training for students is Sept. 29. We have trained more than 1,000 students in the College's Green Dot bystander intervention program.
If you have experienced or think you may have experienced sexual assault, intimate partner violence, domestic violence or stalking, and are seeking support, please contact Heidi Freeland-Trail, director of sexual violence prevention and advocacy, our chaplains, or any of our counselors in Student Counseling Services, all of whom are confidential resources. To report an incident, please contact Campus Safety at 860-439-2222, New London Police, or Dean John McKnight, the college's acting Title IX officer.
Thank you for all you do to help create and maintain a safe, respectful, and equitable campus community for us all.
Yours,
Katherine Bergeron
President