Dear Hesston College community,

I hope that your summer is off to a joyful and rejuvenating beginning. I am writing to share with you an update on the actions we are taking to implement the recommendations from Cozen O’Connor’s report on campus policies and practices related to student safety and Title IX and to drive meaningful and lasting change at Hesston College.

• I have appointed Whitney Douglas, Disability Services and Title IX coordinator as the chair of a new working group that will be charged with managing the implementation of Cozen O’Connor’s recommendations. Paula Brunk Kuhns, Board of Directors secretary, will serve as the board’s representative on the working group.

  In the coming weeks, I will work with Whitney, Paula and Board Chair Ken G Kabira to identify members of the college community to serve on this working group. We will announce its members by the end of June so that they can begin their work this summer.

• We are in the final stages of identifying and selecting an external counsel with expertise in providing colleges with trauma-informed guidance and direction for improving policies and practices related to Title IX. This external counsel will work alongside the Administrative Council and the above working group to implement the report’s recommendations and to identify other actions needed to fully meet our responsibilities to student safety, Title IX and other areas they identify to strengthen our culture and community. This counsel will also assist the college in interpreting and navigating pending updates to the Title IX rules and accompanying regulations, which the U.S. Department of Education has now announced will be released in October.
• Board Chair Kabira and I have committed the college to ensuring that board members, employees and students all receive mandatory, full and robust training this fall on how to report sexual violence, how to offer support to students and how to navigate Title IX policy and procedures.

These trainings will begin over the summer with employees most directly involved in this work, including staff from the Title IX office, Human Resources and Student Life. We will also devote the annual faculty-staff retreat August 9 to this training to ensure that all employees are appropriately prepared to support our students for the new academic year.

We have added an additional half-time female resident director with prior experience and expanded a half-time campus counselor role to a full-time position.

This work is essential and complex and has our full attention. We will continue to update you with progress made and actions taken. I welcome your suggestions or questions as the work proceeds.

Peace, Joe