John Jay College of Criminal Justice invites responsible proposals from experienced organizations to conduct an independent and thorough review of John Jay's campus climate and processes for addressing allegations of misconduct. Details about the background for this request, the goals for the review, potential scope of work contemplated by the College, and the proposal process are below.
Background
John Jay is a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY) and an internationally recognized leader in educating for justice. John Jay is a federally-designated Hispanic-serving and Minority-serving institution, it is ranked third in the nation in Black student success, and it is a top ten institution for promoting student social mobility. John Jay is proud to serve a diverse and dynamic student body of 15,000 students that includes nearly fifty percent students who are first in their family to attend college as well as st11dents who are immigrants, from lowincome families, or from other historically underrepresented groups.
John Jay is committed to a harassment-free environment and expects that every member of its community will be respected regardless of race, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity), age, or disability. John Jay is proud to have achieved 100 percent compliance with applicable legal requirements under New York State's Enough is Enough (EIE) anti-sexual misconduct law, and to have been recognized under EIE as the topperforming institution within the CUNY system.
The College also recognizes that it has an opportunity to strengthen its campus climate. Recently, allegations of misconduct by certain faculty members at John Jay have raised questions among students, faculty, and staff about how the college fulfills its commitment to a diverse and inclusive campus climate. The College also recognizes that "an organization's commitment to a harassment-free workplace must not be based on a compliance mindset," and prevention efforts must go beyond preventing conduct that is legally actionable - rather, "efforts to create a harassment-free environment must be part of an overall diversity and inclusion strategy." (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace at 3, 31).
Request for Proposals
Against this backdrop, John Jay seeks to engage an outside expert to conduct an independent and thorough review of John Jay's campus climate and processes for addressing allegations of misconduct, including the College's Title IX program, and to develop recommendations to address findings as appropriate.
Goals
Through such a review process, John Jay seeks to accomplish the following goals:
- Learn: Enhance understanding of the college's campus climate specifically related to diversity and inclusion, efforts to prevent harassment and misconduct, and enforcement of policies against discrimination and sexual misconduct.
- Further Strengthen Processes for Addressing Misconduct: Beyond legal requirements, further strengthen the College's policies and procedures for preventing and addressing sexual misconduct.
- Improve and Expand Holistic Prevention Efforts: Continue to improve and expand the College's use of holistic harassment prevention strategies to create a respectful, safe, and harassment-free learning environment for all students, faculty and staff.
Sample Scope of Work
John Jay welcomes responsible proposals for how best to accomplish these goals, and envisions a potential scope of work to include:
1. Gathering information
- Listening Sessions with Community/ Experts - conduct informal listening sessions with campus community members and outside partners to learn more about the College's climate for diversity and inclusion and the operation of the College's Title IX program. Among others, listening sessions would be held with the following groups:
- Faculty
- Staff
- Students (student leaders, athletes, LGBTQ students, gender justice advocates)
- Select individuals who have been involved in Title IX investigations
- Possible Surveys/ Sampling
- John Jay requests assistance determining whether the College should enhance its assessment of the campus climate by supplementing existing data sets through additional data collection means such as anonymous surveys or other means.
2. Findings & Recommendations: Provide the College leadership and campus community with a set of findings and recommendations addressing how the College can:
- Fulfill its commitment to a harassment -free environment
- Improve processes and deploy resources in the following areas:
- Title IX Program / Process
- Gender Justice Center Program
- Training and Prevention Program
- (Potentially) Strategy and Accountability for Creating Inclusive Environments
Proposals:
Responsible proposals should include descriptions of:
- The submitting organization's mission and staff
- Relevant experience
- Scope of work and timeline (which need not adhere to the sample scope of work described above)
- Cost
Process & Timeline:
- Request for Proposals posted -Wednesday, November 14, 2018
- Proposals due via email to jiclimatereview@jjay.cuny.edu -Wednesday, December 5, 2018
- Selection -December 2018
- Review Period - January - March 2019
- Recommendations presented - April/ May 2019