In an e-mail to be sent to faculty and students tonight, Provost Peter Salovey will officially announce the creation of a new centralized sexual misconduct grievance procedure, streamlining the previous system of separate complaint procedures across the schools of the University.
The University-Wide Committee on Sexual Misconduct (or the UWC) will begin effective on July 1, chaired by philosophy professor Michael Della Rocca.
“Building upon the existing processes of the College and each of the Schools, the UWC is designed to address allegations of sexual harassment and sexual misconduct of every kind, and will be available to all students and faculty across the University,” Salovey said.
The committte will consist of University students, faculty and administrators and will be staffed by a professional who will act as fact finder. Salovey said the overhaul will help students and faculty file and follow through with any complaint in a simpler way. The UWC comes after the work of previous groups, he added, including the Women Faculty Forum.
Alison Griswold contributed reporting.