Campus Report Updates

​There has been strong participation and engagement from students and employees at all 23 universities, as well as employees from the Chancellor's Office. Nearly 18,000 members of the CSU community responded to the confidential (anonymous) online survey, and many others contributed through campus visits or other meetings, by sending emails through the dedicated email address.

At the May 2023 board of trustees meeting, Cozen O’Connor will report to the trustees, university leaders, and all members of our university community at an open session that will be live streamed. Cozen O’Connor’s report will describe the assessment process, what the assessment revealed, and their recommendations regarding programming and services at the system level (Chancellor’s Office) and at our universities. Consistent with our commitment to candor in this assessment, Cozen O’Connor’s written report will be publicly released soon after the board meeting and will include an individual section devoted to observations and recommendations for each university.

At the outset of the assessment, Cozen O’Connor initially planned to provide a separate report to each university prior to the final systemwide report. While Cozen O’Connor has shared ongoing feedback about recommendations to strengthen and support the work of Title IX and DHR during campus visits and in follow-up discussions, the Cozen O’Connor team concluded that sharing individually tailored recommendations to each university would be best understood and most meaningful if delivered in the context of, and in conjunction with, systemwide observations and recommendations. Given the commonality of observations across most of our universities, and the need for a significant and coordinated response, Cozen O’Connor’s recommendations for achieving the CSU’s goals will require the Chancellor’s Office to provide significantly more (and different) support to university Title IX, DHR and employee relations operations. The CSU stands ready to do that.

Each university president has formed an Implementation Team to support the implementation of and execute Cozen O'Connor's recommendations on their campuses. These teams will include university Title IX and DHR staff, as well as student, faculty and staff stakeholders. Beginning in mid-April, the Cozen O’Connor team will convene all members of these Implementation Teams to ensure they have the opportunity (before the end of the term) to develop a deeper understanding of the framework of the assessment; the evidence base and process for reaching observations and recommendations; the goals that form the basis for the recommendations; and how to be best prepared to receive the upcoming report and successfully move forward on their campus.

After the May meeting of the board of trustees (in June and July), Cozen O’Connor and a member of the CO Title IX/DHR team will meet separately with each university Implementation Team to discuss implementation of systemwide recommendations, and Cozen O’Connor’s observations, recommendations and next steps with respect to that university. The university’s Title IX Coordinator and DHR Administrator will be responsible for designing and planning the steps necessary to implement the recommendations, with assistance from the Cozen O’Connor team and the CO Title IX/DHR team. The role of the other members of the university Implementation Team will be to help facilitate and support the implementation of this plan in a manner that is consistent with agreed-upon timelines, the goals of the assessment and university culture. They will also engage with and seek input from other university stakeholders who are involved in providing Title IX and other antidiscrimination-related services and programming or who otherwise have relevant subject matter expertise. Each university will also develop a communications plan designed to keep its community informed about the implementation process and status.

While there is hard work ahead, these reports provide the guidance and insight required to achieve our goals. Our board of trustees, our leaders and our university community remain committed to working together to better align our culture with our institutional values. ​

Report to the Board of Trustees

Representatives of the Cozen team are scheduled to provide an oral report to the board in an open session of the March 2023 board meeting. This assessment and any reporting on the assessment will protect employee and student confidentiality and privacy.

Starting in late January, the Cozen team will share a written report with each campus president describing the campus visit; the aggregate themes shared by university community members; the strengths/areas the university should continue to support; opportunities/areas that call for improvement; and recommendations, including steps the university can take promptly (even in the absence of significant additional funding) to address issues such as staffing, campus climate and other initial observations. 

Each campus president will form a campus working group (implementation team) that will be charged with considering and implementing appropriate recommendations in the Cozen campus report. The implementation team is likely to include the president's chief of staff or a member of president's cabinet, the Title IX Coordinator, the DHR Administrator, one staff member, one representative of the faculty senate, and one member of student leadership.

The campus president will promptly share the campus report with the campus community, and will identify the members and priorities of the campus culture action team. The president and campus senior leadership will support the campus culture action team in securing necessary resources, extending authority and approval to accomplish goals and objectives, and facilitating the implementation of the recommendations.

Report to the Board of Trustees

Representatives of the Cozen team are scheduled to provide an oral report to the board in an open session of the March 2023 board meeting. This assessment and any reporting on the assessment will protect employee and student confidentiality and privacy.