On Thursday, Valerie Simons, a former lawyer and the new Title IX coordinator for the CU Boulder campus, spoke at the UMC during a board meeting about the future of sexual harassment and discrimination prevention at CU.

“Sexual harassment is a critical and shared mission,” Simons said. “There will be one team that handles all matters, whether they are faculty, staff or students, and we have built a communication platform.”

Simons and the task force that is currently working on this project have devised a three-pronged approach that they think will help contend with incidents of discrimination and harassment: Establishing a system of audits for the university’s policies; emphasizing intra-staff and faculty communication; and “[increasing] our education and prevention efforts,” Simons said. “We want to build upon our student programming for incoming students, faculty and staff.”

The task force also wants to create a service that will help bystanders know where to go and what to say in the event of witnessing a situation, as bystanders are an integral part in the reporting of such events.

Simons and her team will share their progress with the board in later meetings.

“I believe that this will indeed have a positive effect on CU’s community, because we will be offering recommendations on how to have the best practices,” Simons said. “These practices are going to give a lot of people clarity on where to go and who to talk to.”

Simons will report to Chancellor Phil DiStefano, who will oversee the project.

During a Board of Regents meeting in the University Memorial Center on September 11, 2014, CU’s leadership convened to discuss the university’s Title IX programs in the wake of a federal investigation against the university. (Gray Bender/CU Independent)

Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Marine Martin at Marine.martin@colorado.edu.