Anti-sexual assault student activists expressed concerns about the process behind Harvard s decision to merge its Title IX Office and the Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response.
Harvard announced on March 24 it will join the two offices under a new Office for Gender Equity. University Provost Alan M. Garber â76 wrote in an email to Harvard affiliates that plans for the new office and the dissolution of OSAPR emerged after âthoughtful comments from many students, postdoctoral fellows, staff, and faculty.â
In an article published in the Harvard Gazette, University Title IX Coordinator Nicole M. Merhill â who will helm the OGE â said input from student organizations, including anti-sexual assault advocacy group Our Harvard Can Do Better, was a factor in the Universityâs decision to merge existing offices.
The Harvard Graduate Council heard updates on recent activism work, reviewed petitions, mulled graduate student IT policies, and passed constitutional amendments Monday evening during its first public meeting of the month.
Mark R. Haidar, a Harvard Law School student and president of the Law School’s chapter of the Equal Democracy Project, opened the meeting with a presentation on the EDP Task Force a joint initiative between undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty at the University that aims to make Election Day a University holiday.
Haidar said he hopes the recently-formed task force will project a more unified front than similar efforts in the past.
Harvard University Health Services Director Giang T. Nguyen said during a faculty meeting Tuesday that the University has nearly completed vaccinating all Harvard affiliates eligible to receive the Covid-19 vaccine in Phase One of Massachusettsâ distribution plan.
Harvard is prepared to begin Phase Two vaccinations â which include individuals ages 75 and older, per state guidelines â once the University receives more shipments of the vaccine from the state, Nguyen said.
âThere is some level of communication with the state, but we have not been able to get as much detail from them as we would like,â Nguyen said. âBut I know that in recent communication with them, they could not give as much vaccines as they would like to give.â
Harvard has established a committee and working groups to review the Universityâs sexual misconduct, discrimination, and bullying policies, University Provost Alan M. Garber â76 announced in an email to Harvard affiliates Monday.
The committee will consist of three working groups composed of faculty, students, and staff, which will in turn be directed by a group of faculty and administrators. The review is the result of an agreement between the University and its graduate student union following months of dispute over the schoolâs sexual harassment policies during contract negotiations last spring.
The âTitle IX Policy and Other Sexual Misconduct Policyâ working group will review the Universityâs two interim policies and procedures announced in August. The policies, created in response to new Title IX regulations created by then-U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy D. Devos, address behavior covered under the new federal guidelines as well as behavior fal