2023 ANNUAL SECURITY REPORT 43 If a Formal Complaint against a Respondent who is an official or volunteer contains any allegations under the Sexual Misconduct Policy, the University or State System of Higher Education will follow applicable requirements in University or System policies or procedures and standards for resolution of the allegations contained in the Formal Complaint. NOTICE OF DISMISSAL Upon reaching a decision that any specific allegation contained in the Formal Complaint will be dismissed, the University promptly sends written notice of the dismissal and the reason for the dismissal, simultaneously to the Parties through their institutional or other provided email account. It is the responsibility of Parties to maintain and regularly check their email accounts and update the Title IX Coordinator of any email address or other changes to the means of contact. INVESTIGATION Once a Formal Complaint is received by the Title IX Coordinator and the Notice of Allegations has been issued, the Title IX Coordinator and/or his/her designee will perform an investigation of the conduct alleged under a reasonably prompt timeline. Kutztown University and not the Parties has the burden of proof and the burden of gathering evidence (i.e., the responsibility of showing a violation of this Policy has occurred). Either the Complainant and/or Respondent may decide not to share their account of what occurred or may decide not to participate in an investigation or hearing. This does not shift the burden of proof away from Kutztown University and does not indicate responsibility. KU will provide an equal opportunity for the Parties to present Witnesses, including fact and expert Witnesses, and other inculpatory and exculpatory evidence, (i.e., evidence that tends to prove and disprove the allegations). Medical records of a party (or parent, if applicable) will not be considered as part of the investigation unless the party to whom the medical records belong provides the records to the Investigator. Any relevant medical records shared with the Investigator will be attached to the Investigative Report and shared with the other party and Decision Maker(s). INSPECTION AND REVIEW OF EVIDENCE So that the Complainant and Respondent can meaningfully respond to the evidence prior to the issuance of the investigative report, both Parties will have equal opportunity to review the evidence obtained through the investigation. The evidence will be made available to each Party and each Party’s Advisor, if any, for inspection and review through electronic format or a hard copy. Afterwards, the Parties have ten days to inspect and review the evidence and submit a written response to the Investigator. This response should include new or additional evidence. Once received, the Investigator will share that response with the other Party and their Advisor, if any. The other Party then has five days to review and respond to the additional evidence. The University provides copies of the Party’s supplemental written response to the other Party and their Advisor. INVESTIGATIVE REPORT After the responses to the evidence submitted by both Parties are reviewed by the Investigator, he/she will consider the responses. Within ten days, the Investigator will generate an Investigative Report that fairly summarizes relevant evidence. The Investigative Report is not intended to catalog all evidence obtained by the Investigator, but only to provide a fair summary of that evidence. Only relevant evidence--including both inculpatory and exculpatory relevant evidence (i.e., tending to prove and disprove the allegations, respectively) will be referenced in the Investigative Report. Evidence obtained in the investigation that is determined in the reasoned judgment of the Investigator not to be directly related to the allegations in the Formal Complaint will be included in the appendices to the Investigative Report. The Investigator may redact irrelevant information from the Investigative Report when that information is contained in otherwise relevant documents or evidence. The Investigative Report will be shared with the Parties and their Advisors at least 10 days prior to any hearing for their review and written response. Any written response received will be shared with the Decision-Makers(s) and the other Party and their Advisor prior to the hearing. HEARINGS
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