IN 2020, there were 901 reports of sexual misconduct on Massachusetts college campuses, of which two-thirds involved allegations between students, according to a new report released by the Department of Higher Education.
In January 2021, Gov. Charlie Baker signed a law aimed at addressing sexual violence on college campuses. The law required campuses to provide annual reporting on sexual misconduct. The first data collected under that new law was released in a report filed with the Legislature Monday.
The report found that there were 602 allegations made by a student against a student, and another 138 allegations made by a student against an employee. Another 76 involved reports made by an employee about another employee. The rest involved anonymous reports or reports made by employees against students.
Just 136 of the reports were investigated by a law enforcement agency. Most of those – 108 – were student against student allegations.
Allegations may also be investigated internally by the schools, regardless of whether law enforcement gets involved. In internal investigations, 99 students and 44 employees were found responsible for violating school policies on sexual misconduct. There were 70 students and 53 employees found not responsible for violating school policies.
There were 101 students and 45 staff who faced disciplinary actions for violating sexual misconduct policies. (The number of disciplinary actions could be greater than the number of those found responsible if an investigation was concluded in 2019 and discipline meted out in 2020 or if additional people were punished for being involved in an incident who did not violate the sexual misconduct policy.)
The report covered public and private colleges, which collectively employed more than 131,000 staff and had 592,000 students enrolled.
Naomi Shatz, an attorney with Zalkind, Duncan, and Bernstein who represents students and faculty on both sides of sexual misconduct cases, said it is important to have this data to better understand what schools are seeing and doing. But she cautioned that there are major caveats to the data.
First, the reported number of incidents is likely lower than the number that actually occur, since many sexual assaults are not reported.
Second, data about investigations does not necessarily reflect the resolution of every case. Federal laws changed in 2020 to let schools engage in informal resolutions of sexual misconduct cases. So it is possible that even if a formal complaint is lodged, the parties will agree to a deal to resolve the allegation informally without a formal decision being reached as to whether the accused party is responsible.
Shatz said there is also no way to draw conclusions about how schools are handling complaints based on the number of people found responsible or not, since there is no information about what the allegations are or how strong the evidence is. There is also no way to know what occurred in the cases that never made it to final adjudication and if schools are improperly dismissing cases.
“It’s some data but it’s not super-illuminating as to what’s actually happening on the ground,” Shatz said.
SHIRA SCHOENBERG
NEW STORIES FROM COMMONWEALTH MAGAZINE
2050 climate goals: The Baker administration releases a 2050 climate plan that follows a familiar path (electrify everything) and begins to lay out the many challenges ahead. The plan looks not just at reducing the production of greenhouse gas emissions but the removal of them from the atmosphere. Read more.
Lovefest: The Governor’s Council held a hearing on one of its own members, Robert Jubinville, who has been nominated by Gov. Charlie Baker as clerk magistrate of Framingham District Court. The Milton defense lawyer got rave reviews from all of his fellow councilors except Marilyn Delaney, who drew parallels to Baker’s nomination of a councilor in 2019 that was opposed by Jubinville. Read more.
Push for union: Drivers working for Uber and Lyft say the companies are pocketing larger and larger amounts of their fare income, necessitating the formation of a union. Read more.
OPINION
Teacher pipeline: Shradha Patel, the co-founder of Roxbury Prep High School, says her institution is using a teaching fellowship as a pipeline to deliver teachers (many of color and some of them Roxbury Prep grads) to its classrooms. Read more.
STORIES FROM ELSEWHERE AROUND THE WEB
BEACON HILL
The State Police union is in arbitration with the Baker administration over its COVID vaccine mandate. (MassLive)
Attorney General-elect Andrea Campbell named Pat Moore, a former White House lawyer who also served as legal counsel to two Massachusetts governors, as first assistant attorney general. (Boston Globe)
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
Morrissey Boulevard, running alongside the Southeast Expressway in the Dorchester section of Boston, is going through a transformation. At 780 Morrissey a six-story building is going up with 219 residential units. Last week, a six story building with 219 residential units was approved at 800 Morrissey by the Boston Planning and Redevelopment Agency. And a Pine Street Inn project to transform a Comfort Inn at 900 Morrissey into housing for the formerly homeless is making its way through the approval process. (Dorchester Reporter)
Former Boston city councilor Larry DiCara, who cosponsored 50 years ago the city ordinance requiring most municipal employees to live in Boston, says times have changed and it makes sense to scrap the rule. (Boston Globe)
Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty, who lost his bid for state Senate, plans to run for reelection as mayor. (Telegram & Gazette)
A temporary domestic violence shelter in Springfield turns into an extended stay home as residents are unable to find permanent housing. (MassLive)
WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL
In a meeting with President Biden and an address to Congress, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – in his first trip out of the country since war began in February – makes an impassioned call for continued US support of Ukraine against Russia’s invasion. (Washington Post)
TRANSPORTATION
The Globe digs in on why MBTA service has become such a mess.
Incoming Gov. Maura Healey says she hopes to have a new MBTA general manager hired within weeks of taking office. (Boston Herald) Herald columnist Joe Battenfeld says incoming Gov. Maura Healey should put the teetering transit system in state receivership.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS
A former Harvard fencing coach was acquitted of accepting bribes from a father trying to get his two sons into the school. The case, initiated by a story in the Boston Globe, was full of clues that could have supported a guilty verdict, but the jury didn’t buy it because there was also evidence to support the acquittal of the coach and the father. The two sons were top fencers and excellent students and the coach paid back loans he received from the father. The father’s attorney called it “an alleged crime in search of a victim.” (Associated Press)
Newton native Caroline Ellison has agreed to plead guilty to federal fraud charges in connection with her role as a key player in the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency operation. (Boston Globe) A Berkshire Eagle editorial urges patience in judging top FTX executive Ryan Salame. Some court papers paint Salame as a whistle blower on the scandalous collapse of the company, but others suspect he may have more involvement in the firm’s problems than is known right now. Salame is the owner of roughly half of the restaurants in the Pittsfield area.
A panel of sheriffs tells lawmakers that correctional work is harder and there are fewer officers now than in the past, leading to burnout and attrition. (State House News Service)