Content warning: This article contains references to sexual assault, sexual harassment and forms of discrimination.

USC’s Office for Equity, Equal Opportunity, and Title IX and the Office of Professionalism and Ethics released their inaugural joint report, USC Responds, in August. The report details the University’s response to reports of discrimination, harassment and other conduct of concern from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022.

“This is the first year of the report, so the data is baseline information for future years, meaning we don’t have data from previous years to compare it to,” said Linda Hoos, the EEO-TIX Vice President and Title IX Coordinator. “But it does reflect a commitment to ensuring that our processes for reporting, investigating and resolving reports of sexual and gender-based harassment discrimination under Title IX are accessible, prompt, fair and equitable.”

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EEO-TIX was created in 2020 after the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights found the University had an insufficient system to respond to Title IX complaints during an investigation into former gynecologist George Tyndall — who allegedly sexually abused hundreds of women during his 27-year tenure.

The office works to address and help prevent acts of discrimination and harassment based on protected characteristics, like race, gender and sexual orientation, through programs like the report and Prevention Education Modules. OPE is a centralized report-receiving and investigation office that was created in 2018.

“If you don’t have a reporting system of some kind, you are just going to be set up to fail in one sense or another,” said Asher Winikoff, a sophomore majoring in industrial and systems engineering, about the importance of the report. “If you do not have a method for which people can effectively communicate … you have a school that doesn’t accurately represent the population, or in some ways misrepresents it.” 

According to the report, EEO-TIX received 1,808 reports of misconduct based on protected characteristics during the 2021-22 academic year.

Despite seeing a higher number of reports compared to other local universities, Michael Blanton, the vice president of OPE, said that reflects positively on the campus culture.

“When the number [of reports] go up, it usually means that [the] reporting [percentage] has also gone up, and that is a positive thing,” Blanton said. “[That means] the word is getting out that there is a mechanism to take in reports and there is a comfort level that is hopefully increasing within the community.”

UC Irvine’s Division of Equal Opportunity and Compliance 2021-22 annual report showed 1,053 reports of discrimination, sexual violence and sexual harassment during the same time period as USC Responds. UCLA’s Public Accountability report, which, as USC Responds, measures reports against protected characteristics, saw 1,363 reports from June 2020 to July 2021 — UCLA has not yet released a report on the 2021-22 academic year. 

Of the 1,808 reports, 1,425 supportive measures were administered, around 500 informal resolutions were reached, 69 formal resolutions were opened and 39 formal resolutions were found. Formal resolutions are when a formal complaint is filed, and the University, after an investigation, decides whether or not a policy was broken; if it was, USC administers the proper sanctions on the perpetrator. Informal resolutions are when a formal complaint is never filed and an alternative resolution, other than an investigation, is reached between the two parties.

“What that tells us is that we are getting a lot of people who understand that when something is not quite right, when it seems to sort of hit on something that may be linked to a protected characteristic, there is a place for them to go, to provide resources, to provide support,” Hoos said. “The vast majority [of reports] are addressed in other ways [that do not involve a formal resolution].”

Sex or sexual misconduct was the most reported protected characteristic. Of the 384 reports where a student was the party reported, nearly 200 involved sex or sexual misconduct. Almost 60 of the 100 reports that involved a non-USC affiliated party and more than 150 of the 640 reports with a staff respondent were also related to sex. While not the most reported in cases with faculty respondents, sex and sexual misconduct were involved in almost 90 of the 538 reports.

Misconduct based on race and gender was also reported heavily among all four groups. Both characteristics had around 50 reports with a student respondent, 10 from with an unaffiliated respondent and more than 100 reports involving both faculty and staff.

Blanton said that a primary focus for OPE following the report is USC’s Report and Response hotline. The hotline — which was released after the 2021-22 USC Responds report was commissioned — pushes reports directly to the offices that can handle them rather than going through a longer process and has been a success, according to Blanton.

“The reason we know [the Report & Response hotline has been a success] is the reports have gone up, and the number of anonymous reports has gone down,” Blanton said. “When systems like this are rolled out, anonymous reporting will have a higher percentage because people are unsure, ‘Hey, I am going to put my report in, but I am still afraid of some things like potential retaliation’ … but what we have seen is the ratio start to go the other way.”

Hoos said that EEO-TIX is excited to use the data to better allocate resources and understand the campus climate.

The Prevention and Education section of the report showed nearly 100% completion of sexual assault prevention training for undergraduate and graduate students, and above 90% confidence in speaking up during sexual assault situations.

However, Yunseo Choi, a freshman majoring in urban studies and planning, said that while completion rates are high, implementing the modules could be improved.

“[The Prevention Education Modules] felt like homework, like something I had to just get over with, so I did not really pay much attention to it,” Choi said. “There is a lot of diversity here [at] USC, so I think if people have a problem, there [are] a lot of people that they could go to, but I am not sure if we are fully aware and are informed of the resources we have.”

According to Hoos, the report was supposed to be released alongside the University’s 2024 Title IX regulations in August but was released alone due to a federal court injunction that is currently preventing the U.S. Department of Education from implementing new Title IX regulations at certain schools, including USC. The injunction bars implementation at schools attended by the children of members of political groups such as Female Athletes United, Young America’s Foundation and Moms for Liberty. 

The injunction comes after members filed the lawsuit against the Department of Education for its “Final Rule under Title IX” that, if implemented, would modify the grievance procedures for reports of sex-based discrimination.

Hoos said the goal is to make this report an annual part of EEO-TIX and OPE’s work.

If you or someone you know needs support, help is available:
USC Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention and Services: Call (213) 740-9355 and request to speak with an advocate or counselor. Services are confidential.

USC EEO-TIX: Visit eeotix.usc.edu to consider courses of action in cases of discrimination, harassment and retaliation.