Sac State inadequately addressing campus sexual assault and harassment, reports find

Grace Scullion
·5 min read

Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!

SAC STATE INADEQUATELY ADDRESSING SEXUAL ASSAULT AND HARASSMENT, REPORTS FIND

Two reports released this week concluded that the California State University system is inadequately responding to allegations of sexual assault and harassment.

The first, released Monday, is a year-long assessment commissioned by CSU into sexual assault and harassment allegation protocols on each of its 23 campuses.

The second report, released Tuesday by the California State Auditor, reviewed allegations of sexual harassment or assault by employees at the Office of the Chancellor, CSU Fresno, San José State and Sonoma State.

The audit concluded that CSU has not “adequately or consistently addressed” some allegations of sexual harassment.

The report found issues including:

  • Premature and unjustified closing of investigations.

  • Two-thirds of cases stayed open past the time frame mandated by CSU sexual harassment policy.

  • More than half of the cases missed essential documentation.

The audit blamed the inadequacies in part on a lack of systemwide guidance and oversight by the Chancellor’s office.

The office is responsible for overseeing sexual harassment policy at the university system. Each of the 23 CSU campuses also have a Title IX coordinator who oversees campus response to sexual harassment reports.

The CSU-commissioned report found a number of deficiencies at Sacramento State, including:

  • An under-resourced Title IX office. The Office for Equal Opportunity (OEO), which houses the university’s Title IX response coordinators, does not have enough resources to adequately serve the campus.

  • Lack of student awareness about OEO. The “average Sac State Student” has “no idea” what OEO is or what it does.

  • Ad hoc prevention and education programming. There is no strategic approach on campus to prevention and education.

  • Inconsistent documentation across the university. Inefficiency can impede in the investigations.

“The biggest issue right now is that students don’t really know what the resources on campus are,” said Michael Lee-Chang, a rising sophomore at Sac State who has worked with the university’s Sexual Violence Awareness Team and OEO.

In the 2022-23 school year, Sacramento State developed a Sexual Violence Prevention, Safety, and Support Action Plan. In the time since the CSU report was conducted, they have hired two new Title IX investigators, bringing the total number of investigators to four for the campus of 31,000 students.

Sac State’s OEO said it intends to implement all of the recommendations included in the report. It expects the process to take two to three years.

SACRAMENTO TO PILOT AFFORDABLE HOMEOWNERSHIP PROGRAM

U.S. Bank is launching a new mortgage program that aims to help Black and Latinx buyers in particular purchase homes. Sacramento is one of the six California pilot cities where the loans will first be available.

The Access Home Loan mortgage provides up to $12,500 in down payment assistance and an additional $5,000 in lender credit.

Housing affordability is down across all groups since mortgage rates shot up to seven percent last year, Sacramento housing analyst Ryan Lundquist said in an email to the Bee. But racial income and wealth gaps, plus California’s history of racially discriminatory real estate practices, mean the barriers are even higher for Black households looking to buy a home.

Only 21 percent of Black households can afford the median price in Sacramento County, the lowest of any racial group, according to the California Association of Realtors. Across the state, that share goes down to 12 percent for a single-family home. Black Californians are now less likely to own a home than in the 1960s, when housing discrimination was legal, according to the California Reparations Task Force report on housing discrimination.

“It’s hard to say if this new mortgage product has the teeth to do anything about the gap or not, but I can see why programs like this are being considered,” Lundquist said.

Who qualifies for the new loan?

Borrowers living in majority-minority neighborhoods with income equal or below the area median income qualify.

“One thing I find particularly promising about this program is how they’re considering non-traditional credit data like rent payments and utility bills,” said Sacramento Real Estate Broker Keisha “Kee” Mathews. Mathews founded Sac Club 100, an organization helping first-time homebuyers in Sacramento.

“This can be a game-changer for folks with limited credit history or who may not have traditional banking relationships, as it gives them a better chance of getting approved for a mortgage.”

Mathews also said US Bank’s outreach to raise awareness of the mortgage opportunity will make or break its success.

Six California cities are included in the initial launch of the mortgage program: Sacramento, Los Angeles, Oakland, Fresno, San Diego and Riverside.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“People are living in third-world conditions here in the state’s capital. We need to show compassion, but we also need to display courage to sometimes do things that are uncomfortable and unpopular,” Sacramento District Attorney Thien Ho in an interview with The Bee.

Best of The Bee:

  • Fed up with what he says is inaction by the city to address Sacramento’s homeless problem, District Attorney Thien Ho said Tuesday he is launching an investigation that could lead to criminal or civil filings against city officials, via Sam Stanton and Theresa Clift.

  • A San Joaquin Valley rematch in 2024 could be the election that determines party control of the U.S. House of Representatives, via Gillian Brassil.

  • CalPERS health insurance policyholders will officially see their premiums grow close to 11% on average next year, via Maya Miller.