Warmest greetings! We write today to draw your attention to the Fall 2021 launch of the Education for Citizenship Initiative (E4C), which continues the dialogue we began last year about how to engage deeply with respect and integrity when having critical conversations about diverse ideas and viewpoints in the classroom, the residence hall, with friends, with colleagues, and with family. This year's initiative is aimed at inspiring a thriving culture of active citizenship, with the goal of creating learning and engagement opportunities in which all members of the university community can participate in frank, meaningful conversations about our...
It gives me great pleasure to announce that Keesha Mitchell, JD, has been named associate vice president of the Office of Institutional Equity. She has served as interim leader of OIE since November 2020, when she came to Ohio State from the Ohio Attorney General's Office. She was selected for the ongoing role after a national search.
As associate vice president of OIE, Keesha oversees the university's efforts to ensure equal opportunity and affirmative action, and to prevent and respond to all forms of harassment, discrimination and sexual misconduct.
I am pleased to share that Melissa E. Mayhan, J.D., has joined the Office of Institutional Equity as our deputy associate vice president and Title IX coordinator. In this role, she will oversee the university’s compliance with laws prohibiting sex-based discrimination, as provided by the Title IX section of the federal Education Amendments of 1972.
Missy previously was senior associate general counsel in the Office of Legal Affairs. As an attorney, she assisted in the creation of OIE in 2019 and worked on issues involving Title IX compliance, sexual misconduct, civil rights and public safety....
The Office of Institutional Equity recognize that events outside of campus may impact our Buckeye community. If you need help, we can offer assistance or guidance around supportive measures (including academic accommodations/deadline extensions, no contact directives, housing modifications, counseling support).
OIE will be offering three Zoom sessions this week to offer answer questions or discuss potential supportive measures:
Keesha Mitchell, JD, will join the university as interim associate vice president for the Office of Institutional Equity, effective Nov. 23.
Keesha is a tested and capable public servant, who has served for the last 21 years in the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. For the last 10 years, Keesha has been the chief of the health care fraud section, where she has supervised a staff of 120 that included attorneys, investigators and administrative personnel.
In May 2020, the U.S. Department of Education announced new Title IX regulations governing how federally funded schools address incidents of sexual harassment among students, faculty and staff. Ohio State recently revised two interim university policies and a faculty rule to comply with the regulations, which took effect Aug. 14. The revisions update definitions, supportive measures, procedures for intake, investigation, informal and formal resolutions, adjudication, corrective action/sanctioning and appeals.
Molly Peirano, director of education and engagement, has been appointed to the additional role of interim Title IX coordinator. She succeeds Kellie Brennan, who has accepted a position at the University of California, Berkeley.
The Office of Institutional Equity (OIE) initiated interim revisions to the university policy pertaining to Activities and Programs with Minor Participants to provide guidance for units that are using virtual delivery, an aspect previously not covered by the policy.
The updated interim policy was approved by the president’s cabinet and took effect May 12, 2020.
The policy outlines what is required of adults who work in activities and programs with minors, and informs individuals of their reporting obligations in instances of known or suspected child abuse or neglect of minors.
As of Aug. 1, policy updates will take effect that reflect the Office of Institutional Equity’s role as Ohio State’s centralized report-and-response office for all forms of harassment, discrimination and sexual misconduct..
Institutional Equity now houses the university’s Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO), Protection of Minors and Title IX functions.
Policies with interim revisions include:
Sexual Misconduct: The interim revised policy will include updated definitions and a new process to direct reports of sexual misconduct to the Office of Institutional Equity. Starting Aug. 1, all reports must go to this...
The Ohio State University has named Katherine M. Lasher as the associate vice president for the Office of Institutional Equity (OIE), a key leadership position with oversight of the university’s response to reports of sexual- and gender-based harassment, violence and other forms of discrimination and harassment.
