Yale has a University-Wide Committee on Sexual Misconduct (UWC) to hear formal complaints brought by students and other members of the Yale community.
The members of the UWC are trained faculty, staff and students from around the University. The UWC procedures are based on recommendations from several Yale committees and reports, Connecticut law, and guidance on federal law from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.
The fair and thorough procedures and policies of the UWC are posted online, but here is a short summary of the UWC process:
- Each party to a complaint may have an adviser, who may be anyone of the party’s choice including an attorney. If a party cannot identify an adviser, the UWC will provide a trained adviser. The adviser may accompany the advisee to all meetings and to the hearing.
- The UWC Secretary is available to meet with the parties and their advisers to explain all the steps in the process.
- Facts are gathered by a trained, impartial fact-finder – usually a person with legal training – who interviews the parties and witnesses and reviews evidence. The fact-finder provides a confidential detailed report to the UWC hearing panel and the parties. Each UWC hearing panel consists of five UWC members drawn from the full committee.
- The purpose of the hearing is primarily to allow the hearing panel to interview each party with respect to the fact-finder’s report. At the hearing, each party is allowed to make an initial statement, and then is interviewed by the panel. During the hearing process, each party may submit questions for the panel to ask the other party.
- The panel determines by majority vote whether it is more likely than not that Yale’s sexual misconduct policy was violated. If it concludes that there was a violation, it recommends a penalty, based on several factors, including the seriousness of the conduct, any prior disciplinary history, and precedent. The panel provides a written report of its findings to the parties and the decision maker, who, in the case of Yale College students, is the Dean of Yale College. The parties may submit to the decision maker a written response to the panel report.
- The dean accepts the panel’s findings of fact and can accept, reject, or modify its conclusions and recommended penalty, if any. All parties can appeal the dean’s decision to the Provost on two grounds, procedural error that prevented the hearing panel or the decision maker from judging the matter fairly, or the discovery of facts that were not reasonably available prior to the UWC hearing.
Students and other individuals at Yale decide whether to pursue a complaint with the UWC, or to pursue another option, including making a criminal complaint. Choosing one option does not prevent anyone from also pursuing another option.
One out of five hearings before the UWC has ended without a finding against the accused. In two out of five cases, the accused student has received a reprimand or probation. About one out of 10 cases has ended in expulsion, and the decision to expel a student is made only after the most careful consideration based on the facts.
The University makes significant efforts to explain its sexual misconduct policies to all members of the Yale community, particularly Yale College students, who attend mandatory information sessions and workshops on the issue.
Out of respect for the privacy and confidentiality of all students involved in a UWC complaint, Yale does not comment on specific cases, nor does it disclose whether a student or a former student was a party to a complaint. This policy on confidentiality applies even if someone publicly discusses his or her involvement in a complaint before the UWC.
Information pertaining to a student’s withdrawal from the University is also maintained as part of the student’s confidential educational record. The governing principle is that all student educational matters, including disciplinary matters, are a private educational concern between the student and Yale.