Harvard University Forms a Task Force to Address Sexual Assault Policies

Late last month, a complaint was filed with the U.S. Department of Education claiming that Harvard University was not doing enough to combat sexual assaults to comply with Title IX of the Higher Education Act Amendments of 1972.

Harvard has responded by creating a new task force composed of students, faculty, and staff to examine how Harvard can improve efforts to prevent sexual assault and to better respond to such incidents when they occur. The task force will be chaired by former University Provost Steven E. Hyman, a professor of stem cell and regenerative biology who, during his tenure as provost, helped oversee the creation of the Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response.

In a letter to the Harvard community, university President Drew Faust stated, “We must do more than just meet our legal obligations. We have a responsibility to improve our efforts to prevent sexual assaults from occurring and to make sure we are doing all we can to aid those who have experienced it. . . . We must do better.”

A report in the Boston Globe this past February found that there were more reported sexual assaults per student at Harvard than any other Boston-area campus.