Georgia officials considering changes to college sexual misconduct policy

Mar. 1 2017 - Atlanta - Grace Starling (seated) joins other advocates from “Students Against House Bill 51” who are watching and live streaming the video feed of the proceedings in the house during debate of HB 51. Rep. Earl Ehrhart, R - Powder Springs, presented House Bill 51. BOB ANDRES /BANDRES@AJC.COM

Mar. 1 2017 - Atlanta - Grace Starling (seated) joins other advocates from “Students Against House Bill 51” who are watching and live streaming the video feed of the proceedings in the house during debate of HB 51. Rep. Earl Ehrhart, R - Powder Springs, presented House Bill 51. BOB ANDRES /BANDRES@AJC.COM

University System of Georgia officials are looking into making changes to how it investigates sexual misconduct on its campuses and may approve new guidelines next month, officials told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday.

The AJC obtained a draft policy that explains, for example, how the USG’s Director for Equity and Investigations would assign an investigator to review misconduct allegations. The system director would have the discretion to retain oversight or transfer oversight to the particular campus where the alleged misconduct took place.

The Georgia Board of Regents in March 2016 approved several changes aimed at creating uniformed guidelines after a task force discovered that was not the case. USG administrators have since reviewed the policy and decided to see how they can improve it.

“In working with our institutions, we are always looking for ways to improve campus safety, ensure consistency and quality in our student conduct investigations and ensure due process,” USG spokesman Charles Sutlive said in an interview. “We’re working with our campuses, so we have a systemwide policy that provides uniformity and consistency in the application of federal and state laws across all 28 of our colleges and universities.”

Georgia lawmakers and sexual assault victim advocates have clashed in recent years over the most appropriate ways to investigate sexual misconduct claims.

USG officials stressed the draft obtained by the AJC is not the final version of the plans. Officials have been in meetings with administrators on its campuses in recent weeks to discuss potential changes.