Carolina Hires First Full-Time Title IX Coordinator

Posted on Nov. 4, 2013

Howard Kallem, a recognized expert in Title IX compliance and currently chief regional attorney of the District of Columbia Enforcement Office for the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, has been appointed as the University’s Title IX compliance coordinator. The product of a national search, Kallem will start at UNC Jan. 2.

He succeeds Ann Penn, who retired Aug. 1 and had held the Title IX coordinator position while also directing Carolina’s equal opportunity and Americans with Disabilities Act office. Kallem will be the first person whose sole responsibility will be Title IX compliance.

Christi Hurt ’93 has served as interim Title IX coordinator since April. She also has chaired a task force that is rewriting policies and practices related to sexual assault.

The Office for Civil Rights is responsible for ensuring civil rights enforcement and compliance with Title IX as well as other federal nondiscrimination legislation. Kallem has more than 19 years of experience with the Office of Civil Rights and 14 years of experience with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He has worked in higher education as a senior equal opportunity specialist at George Mason University. Kallem has a bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York-Binghamton and a law degree from Catholic University School of Law.

He will be responsible for coordinating the University’s compliance with statutory requirements under Title IX, the federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in education. He will oversee campuswide education, training and outreach around Title IX issues, and he will coordinate the University’s responses and investigations into Title IX complaints.

In the past year, the University has added and filled new positions for a deputy Title IX coordinator and an investigator, designed to strengthen its handling of sexual assault reports. More recently, Chancellor Carol Folt authorized further expansion in this area, a position for a second investigator and one to coordinate student engagement and programming.

The University is awaiting the results of three investigations by the Office for Civil Rights into its handling of sexual violence incidents. The Office for Civil Rights was attracted to Carolina by complaints filed by five women, including two alumni, two current students and another who has remained anonymous.

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More online…

• Sexual Assault and the Law: UNC is a focal point of a national rethinking of how universities respond when a student is assaulted, as federal law demands that they not leave the job to police and the courts. The November/December 2013 cover story in the Carolina Alumni Review, available online to Carolina Alumni members.
• Carolina Creates Full-Time Title IX Post, Names Interim
  April 2013 news report
• Honor Court Suspends Harassment Case
  March 2013 news report
• Thorp Invites Campus to Join Dialogue About Sexual Assault
  March 2013 news report
• Government Will Probe Handling of Sexual Misconduct Case
  March 2013 news report
• UNC Comes Under Fire in Sexual Assault Case
  March 2013 news report

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