Photo Illustration by Allie Crome
After Emporia State did an internal Title IX investigation last summer and found a “preponderance of evidence” that a professor sexually harassed a student, the professor was not fired and was not, in any apparent way, punished for his actions.
We at The Bulletin are tired of internal investigations that are hidden behind a smoke screen.
They’re unreliable and apparently we cannot trust them to do what they are supposed to do, which is protect the students of this campus.
We need an external, independent investigation and we need a prosecutor to look at it.
We don’t need Faculty Senate to investigate or look at other faculty.
We can’t expect you to be impartial without being self-serving. It’s unrealistic.
But after recent events, we as students, really just can’t trust the faculty or administration on this campus to do what’s right and what’s in the best interests of the students.
We need an independent investigator with no connections to campus, no overt agenda and prosecutorial experience.
The investigator needs to be given all the resources needed to do their job efficiently and properly and all Non-Disclosure Agreements that anyone has had to sign should be revoked. People need to be able to speak the truth without fear.
The report needs to be delivered to a campus-wide committee with equal representation from students, faculty, staff and administration. There needs to be graduate and undergraduate students on this committee.
Additionally, there needs to be equal representation of people based on gender, race, disability, age, ethnicity, religion or lack thereof. We need to be able to hear from every perspective on this.
We’ve had all the internal investigations we can take ESU.
Time’s up.