At the start of each academic year, the Office for Civil Rights provides an update about its office and some of the regulatory changes impacting its work.
On February 12, 2025, the office welcomed Katie Sherman as civil rights and Title IX deputy coordinator. She brought to the role nearly nine years of experience in human resources in higher education, as well as Title IX experience as an investigator, deputy, and coordinator. If you have not yet had the chance to meet her, please stop by Stephens Hall and introduce yourself.
In December of 2024, after nine years leading the Office for Civil Rights, Samantha Hughes transitioned to a new role on campus as the senior director of presidential operations and assistant secretary to the Board of Trustees. It was also at this time that Kevin Peterson was named the new director of the Office for Civil Rights and Title IX coordinator. The 2025-26 academic year is Kevin’s eighth at Kenyon.
Periodically, the Office for Civil Rights shares updates to ensure the community is aware of critical changes to federal law and regulatory guidance, as well as education initiatives and data related to the work we do. You’ll find a few of these highlights described in more detail below. Any questions should be directed to Kevin Peterson, peterson2@kenyon.edu.
Policy
For much of 2024, Ohio was under an injunction that restricted the implementation of President Biden’s 2024 Title IX regulations. On January 9, 2025, a federal court in Kentucky issued a ruling that vacated the 2024 regulations nationwide, which kept Kenyon and the rest of the country operating under the 2020 regulations.
The College’s active Civil Rights Policy: Discrimination, Harassment, and Sexual Misconduct, including minor changes from last year’s policy, can be found on the website.
Education and Programming
The Office for Civil Rights continues to provide education and training to the campus community in three significant ways:
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Online training for new students, faculty and staff. After a review process involving 19 students representing a cross-section of the student body, Catharsis Productions was selected to provide online training to all new members of the campus community, as well as a refresher course for the junior class.
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In-person training for faculty, sports teams, staff, new employees and student groups. Civil rights staff conducted over 50 in-person one-hour training sessions with a combined attendance of 1,467.
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Continued partnership with “Sex Discussed Here.” Through a collaboration with Dean of Student Development Robin Hart Ruthenbeck and the peer health educators in the Cox Health and Counseling Center, professional sexual health educators came to campus twice during the fall semester. The first visit occurred during Fall Orientation and focused on consent and sexual violence prevention, the risks of combining drinking and sex, bystander intervention and communication skills. The second visit brought the program “Sex In the Dark,” where students anonymously asked questions about sex and received straightforward answers from the professional sexual health experts.
Higher Education Data Sharing (HEDS) Consortium Survey
The College issued the fifth Campus Climate/Sexual Assault Survey during spring 2025. The 2025 results will be shared with the full campus community before the conclusion of the fall 2025 semester.
Legal Updates
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In July 2024 the CAMPUS Act was signed into law by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. While Kenyon was already largely in compliance, the College took a few steps to become fully compliant. The first step was to add “ethnicity” to the Notice of Non-Discrimination. The other step was to appoint Associate Provost Ted Mason to lead a task force on combating antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Christian discrimination and hatred, harassment, bullying or violence toward others on the basis of their actual religious identity or what is assumed to be their religious identity.
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Over the last year, the federal government has renewed its focus on Title VI. Schools are required to have policies and processes in place to respond to issues of discrimination and/or harassment on the basis of race, color, and national origin. Kenyon has long been ahead of this by having an Office for Civil Rights that covers Title VI, Title VII, Title IX, VAWA and any other local, state or federal law that involves civil rights.
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The College’s civil rights staff will continue to monitor the orders and actions coming from the federal and state governments. Any changes to the College’s policy or practices will be communicated to the campus community.
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The local office for the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has moved from Cleveland to Denver. The updated contact information for resources or to file a complaint is:
Denver Office
Office for Civil Rights
U.S. Department of Education
Cesar E. Chavez Memorial Building
1244 Speer Boulevard, Suite 310
Denver, CO 80204-3582
Telephone: 303-844-5695
FAX: 303-844-4303; TDD: 800-877-8339
Email: OCR.Denver@ed.gov
Data
The chart below summarizes the total number of reports, as well as a breakdown of reports by category, made to the Office for Civil Rights for the three academic years of 2022-23 through and including 2024-25. Given the small size of our community, we publish data across multiple years to protect the identity of complainants and respondents.
| Case Type | Total Reports | Percentage of Total Reports |
|---|---|---|
| All categories* | 551 | 100% |
| Section ADA/504 | 46 | 8.3% |
| Discrimination/discriminatory harassment | 111 | 20.1% |
| Title IX, VAWA, non-Title IX sexual harassment | 327 | 59.3% |
*The “All categories” row includes all reports made to civil rights, including those not within the scope of the office.
Formal complaints occur when a party officially requests that Kenyon resolve their concerns, either through a formal or informal process. Complaints made to the office are detailed in the following table beginning with the 2017-18 academic year and concluding with the 2024-25 academic year.
| Year Period | Formal Resolution: Responsible | Formal Resolution: Not Responsible | Informal Resolution or Complaint Dismissed* | Total Complaints |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-18 to 2018-19 | 3 | 15 | 5 | 23 |
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Beginning in 2020, federal guidance required the submission of a written formal complaint when official resolution was requested. The guidance further determined that formal complaints can be resolved through either a formal resolution (investigation that may also require a live hearing) or an informal resolution (mediation, etc.). Data after 2020 reflects this change. |
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| 2019-20 to 2021-22 | 4 | 3 | 13 | 20 |
| 2022-23 to 2024-25 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 10 |
| Total complaints | 10 | 22 | 21 | 53 |
*The civil rights and Title IX coordinator may choose to dismiss a formal complaint if a respondent is no longer participating in or attempting to participate in the education or program activity of the College, the complainant submits a written request to withdraw the complaint, or specific circumstances prevent the College from gathering evidence sufficient to reach a determination. No matter the reason for the dismissal of a complaint, the parties will be notified in writing of the decision, including the reasoning.