A group of faculty and staff re-examining how Western Kentucky University handles complaints under Title IX, a federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination and protects students from sexual misconduct, has submitted recommendations to President Timothy Caboni.

“I think that the president took it seriously,” sociology professor Lauren McClain, a member of the review committee, said of the draft recommendations the group recently submitted to Caboni.

The committee’s creation last spring followed comments from former student body president Loandria “Andi” Dahmer, who told WKU’s student newspaper, the College Heights Herald, that she’d been subject to sex-based harassment from fellow students.

Dahmer, who is now suing WKU, claimed the university did little to address the harassment despite her filing a complaint with its Title IX office.

In April, Caboni announced a review committee’s creation in a statement originally published by WKU Public Radio.

“No student – or employee – should feel threatened or unsafe on our campus,” Caboni said in the statement.

“While disagreements and differences of opinion are common, particularly on a university campus, we expect members of the WKU community to maintain professionalism, collegiality and respect as they interact and engage with others. …

“If there are improvements that need to be made, we will make them. And while we cannot discuss specific Title IX, student conduct or EEO cases, we will be transparent and open about all of our processes,” he said.

At the time, Caboni said the group would include faculty, staff and a student tasked with reviewing “the structure, processes and procedures surrounding (Equal Employment Opportunity), Title IX and Student Conduct.”

Caboni named McClain and Karl Laves in WKU’s Counseling and Testing Center as the group’s co-chairs and said external reviewers would also assist with the work.

Although Caboni vowed to make the process transparent, several campus officials involved in the review were either unwilling or unable to disclose details.

In an interview Wednesday, McClain said she couldn’t go into details about the group’s work because she and other members signed confidentiality agreements. McClain said much of the group’s work was completed over the summer.

“We talked to a lot of people. We reviewed a lot of documents. We hired an outside consultant who worked with us,” she said.

The work culminated in a report the committee gave to Caboni, McClain said.

“He was very excited about it,” she said. “As far as I know, he’s just still thinking about it and I don’t really know where it stands. It’s still a draft document.”

McClain, citing her confidentiality agreement, referred additional comment to Bob Skipper, WKU’s director of media relations.

“There is no timeline yet on when he will react to those recommendations,” Skipper said of Caboni.

Responding to a request for more details, Skipper forwarded a comment from WKU general counsel Deborah Wilkins in an email.

“The committee has not issued a final report and we are not able to provide any further comments,” Wilkins said.

Skipper said that Andrea Anderson, WKU’s Title IX coordinator, also declined to comment.

“She says that given the current litigation, she would prefer not to make any statements about Title IX at this time,” Skipper wrote in an email.