The UCLA Title IX office is responsible for UCLA’s compliance with Title IX, including the policies and procedures to prevent and respond to gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and sexual violence.
The UCLA administration, led by Chancellor Gene Block, has a proven track record of failure to protect the rights of students and student workers guaranteed by Title IX. UCLA is currently under federal Title IX investigation by the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights for its systematic mishandling of incidents of sexual harassment and assault. An audit by the State of California determined that the university has failed to uphold its responsibilities. Shortly after the federal Title IX investigation was initiated in December 2014, Paula Thomason, the long-time coordinator of UCLA’s Title IX office, resigned her post. Notwithstanding Thomason’s record of incompetence and mismanagement, she is now the director of the Title IX office of the California State University system.
Since the initiation of the federal Title IX investigation into UCLA’s practices, there have been signs of a newfound commitment on the part of Chancellor Block’s administration to protect graduate students and other community members. The creation of the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) and the appointment of Kathleen Salvaty as UCLA’s new Title IX coordinator are hopeful signs of a newly discovered resolve.
At the same time, we recognize that past and current conduct by the university has produced an enormous deficit of trust, which the EDI and the Title IX office will have to work hard to overcome. And no matter how committed the EDI and the reformed Title IX office may prove to be, they will still be saddled with implementing an inadequate and counterproductive UC Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence Policy. Furthermore, they will confront an entrenched culture of silencing, ostracism, and retaliation that will prevent many graduate students from ever coming forward.
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