Northern Kentucky University President Geoff Mearns made the following remarks to today’s meeting of the Board of Regents:
Our commitment to the safety and welfare of our students is a paramount issue. We have never compromised on the safety and welfare of our students, and we never will.
As you have likely seen, there has been a significant amount of national media attention about sexual-based violence on college campuses and at off campus events involving college students. I am committed to eliminating sexual-based violence, and all violence, on our campus and in our community. To support this commitment, we have excellent staff who oversee all programs and policies related to sexual misconduct on our campus.
Gabby Maloney leads our Norse Violence Prevention Center
. Gabby serves students who have been victims of violence, and she also works diligently to prevent violence on our campus and in our community. Gabby and her colleagues host a variety of programs and events that are all aimed at reducing violence. For example, the Norse Violence Prevention Center has or will host the following events on campus this Fall: Step In Speak Up Against Sexual Violence; Let’s talk CONSENT training; Lean on Me: an overview on sexual and dating violence and how to support survivors; conversations about healthy masculinity; and Green Dot training. These are just a few programs and events.
Ann James, our Senior Associate Dean for Student Conduct and Rights, works to make sure that we have fair and compassionate disciplinary processes and that the rights of our students are protected.
Kathleen Roberts, as our Title IX officer, helps to facilitate conversations about sexual-based violence and the ways that we can all be involved in stopping violence.
And just a moment ago, I introduced Joan Gates. Joan and her predecessor, Sara Sidebottom, together with our Associate General Counsel Sara Kelley, work to ensure that our processes are fair, consistent, and uphold our high ethical and legal responsibilities.
As a result of the efforts of these individuals, and our entire campus community, we have a safe campus. In fact, for two years in a row, a national study has concluded that our campus is one of the safest in the country. And the number and percentage of reported incidents on our campus are below the national average and less than some of the other institutions in our region. That’s very good. But it’s not good enough.
Through education and training, our goal is to eliminate sexual-based violence on our campus.
Therefore, after consulting with Rich Boehne, our Board Chair, I have directed our legal counsel to engage Dinsmore, a major law firm in this region, to conduct an independent and comprehensive assessment of our policies and procedures related to sexual-based violence. We believe that our policies and practices comply with federal and state law. But because of our commitment to the safety and welfare of our students, I believe that we should continue to identify ways to improve – to exceed the requirements of the law. When this work is complete, I will share the principal findings and recommendations with the Board of Regents and the campus community.
What I have just described is my professional responsibility. But this issue is also personal.
I have four daughters between the ages of 24 and 18. Three of my daughters presently live on a university campus. And one of these three is a student at NKU, and she lives only a few hundred yards from where I sit right now.
I know that Gabby and Ann and Kathleen and Joan and Sara share my professional and personal commitments – a commitment to treat victims with compassion and respect, and a commitment to end sexual-based violence on our campus.
But you may have read in the media some stories that suggest that we are indifferent to the plight of such victims or that we are trying to hide the truth about these issues on our campus. These articles have been promoted by a lawyer who would prefer to litigate his case in the media, as opposed to have the claims fairly adjudicated by an experienced federal judge. This lawyer knows that we cannot disclose information that is protected by federal student privacy laws, even when those facts would support the University’s legal position.
We will continue to respect the privacy rights of our students, even when it is tempting to disclose that information in order to refute an unfounded claim or to respond to unfair stories in the media.
The media accounts that this lawyer has orchestrated are not merely annoying. They are insulting. They unfairly damage the reputations of the women and men who volunteer to serve on our Board of Regents.
They unfairly damage the reputations of the men and women who founded and built the University.
They distract and threaten to demoralize our faculty and staff, who are dedicated to the success and safety of our students.
And they undermine the justifiable pride that more than 50,000 alumni and 14,000 students have in our University.
But, ladies and gentlemen, that is the price that we must pay to respect the integrity of the judicial process, and that is the price that we must pay to honor and defend the privacy rights of our students.
Allow me to end where I began. Our commitment to the safety and welfare of our students is paramount. We have never compromised on the safety and welfare of our students, and we never will.
This really makes me sick to my stomach. Only a day ago we read his athletic director Ken Bothof admit under oath he ignored sexual misconduct. No one went to NKU’s campus police. They allowed three basketball players to play in a tournament game despite knowing what happened in 2015. President Mearns needs to be removed by Gov. Bevin ASAP. Now they are going to spend thousands of dollars for more outside legal advice? The legal team they currently have in the mattress girl suit is getting pounded and it’s obvious NKU will settle things quietly, before Mearns and friends are further exposed.
Having listened to you for years, it seems that you are engaging in the well-known propaganda strategy of restating the same lie again and again in order to convince those around you that what you are saying is true. You and your administration have become a complete embarrassment to all the hard working staff, faculty, and students at NKU—this was once a fine institution. Now it is a nightmare and a shadow–a failure that you and your administration are a responsible for.
NKU is NOT A SAFE CAMPUS. The former Police Chief’s deposition and that of the AD make it clear that you and they and many of your high level staff knew about sexual assaults on campus and you all did nothing to help the victims, but worked hard to cover these up.
I work at NKU and I have suffered from serious sexual harassment. I know many students and several co-workers who have had similar experiences and what is more: they have been harassed, stalked, sexually harassed, and raped by others on campus.
Here is the pattern, the same one that is clear in the depositions: we followed the NKU procedures as directed to by our supervisors or by the Dean of Students Office. We were lied to by supervisors, Title IX officers, and/or HR.
Incidents, such as the ones noted above, are rarely reported to campus police even when victims are told that these incidents have been reported to campus police (I have proof that mine wasn’t). Nothing is done and we are told to keep quiet and move on with our work or studies. The perpetrators are free and safe to do whatever they choose and to continue the violence. And finally, your administration attempts to cover it all up, by hiding behind FERPA and by burying the evidence.
We do not need an expensive investigation of NKU policy because you and your administration do not follow the copious number of policies you already have; or when “policy” is applied, it is applied unevenly to protect the administration (you do not protect students, staff, and regular faculty).
This is can be seen in your actions and in the actions of those that report to you. You use policy to get rid of good people who stand up for justice. That is why the NKU community you rule all cower in fear, silence, or willful ignorance. You have taken our dignity and you clearly have no concern for the dignity of women, for your employees, or for students. You drown the NKU community in your empty propaganda. But, the press and community members are finally standing up and questioning you in an effort to get at the truth. The NKU Administration and the Board need to be cleaned out completely.
“In fact, for two years in a row, a national study has concluded that our campus is one of the safest in the country. And the number and percentage of reported incidents on our campus are below the national average and less than some of the other institutions in our region. ”
Former federal prosecutor President Mearns using worthless statistics to hide the fact that he oversaw a massive cover up of numerous sexual assault cases and should be in jail.
When the chief of police and the Athletic Director swear under oath that they did not turn the rape evidence they had to the police for investigation and I read this statement from President Mearns I am ashamed I ever worked for him and demand that he be fired today.