Investigations

• All complaints of prohibited conduct under this procedure will be reported immediately to the Title IX Coordinator, who will be responsible for conducting the Investigation in a fair, prompt, and impartial manner.
• The Title IX Coordinator shall disclose to the TCSG Compliance Officer any relationship with the parties that could question his/her ability to be objective prior to taking any action concerning the Investigation. The TCSG Compliance Officer will reassign alternate individuals if necessary.
• The Title IX Coordinator shall send written notice to both parties of the allegations upon receipt of a formal complaint.
• Either the complaining Party or the Respondent may challenge the Title IX Coordinator or designee to recommend corrective action on the grounds of personal bias by submitting a written statement to the TCSG Compliance Officer setting forth the basis for the challenge no later than three business days after the Party reasonably should have known of the alleged bias. The TCSG Compliance Officer will determine whether to sustain or deny the challenge.
• The Investigation should be completed within 45 business days of the receipt of the Complaint by the Title IX Coordinator. The Title IX Coordinator will notify the parties in writing (typically by email) if extraordinary circumstances exist requiring additional time.
• The parties will be notified within five business days of receipt of the Complaint by the Title IX Coordinator if the Complaint does not specify facts sufficient to allege sex discrimination, harassment, sexual violence, or retaliation, or if the allegations of sexual misconduct did not occur in the college's education program or activity against the complaining Party while he or she was located in the United States, and that a formal investigation will not be conducted according to this procedure. However, a referral and Investigation may be made by the Title IX Coordinator as to some or all of the matters for consideration under other applicable TCSG policy or procedure, if any. The complaining Party may appeal the decision in writing to the President within five business days of receiving the notice. The President's decision will be final.
• Individuals designated to investigate or recommend corrective actions in response to allegations of sexual misconduct will be trained annually to conduct investigations that protect the complainants' safety and promote fairness of the process and accountability.
• Investigations will be conducted by gathering relevant information and interviewing appropriate witnesses.

All parties must preserve any documents or other evidence pertaining to the Investigation.

Any medically related evidence is best preserved by trained medical personnel.

Students are encouraged to seek medical services both for treatment and preservation of any medical evidence.

• The complaining Party and the Respondent (the parties) will be given equal opportunity to identify witnesses and offer evidence in person or writing. Best efforts will be made to interview all witnesses identified by the parties. If a witness identified by either Party is not interviewed during the Investigation, an explanation for not interviewing the witness should be documented in the Title IX Coordinator Report. Both parties will be given timely notice of meetings at which one or the other or both parties may be present. Both the complaining Party and the Respondent may be accompanied by an advisor of his or her choice during any meetings involved in the Title IX Coordinator process in which the advisee is also eligible to be present. However, the Advisor may not speak on behalf of the Party.
• Any evidence collected during the Investigation should be maintained under the record retention requirements of TCSG. Personally identifiable information, including, but not limited to home address, telephone number, student ID, or social security number should not be maintained in investigative records.
• Within five (5) business days of completion of the Investigation, the Title IX Coordinator will provide both parties simultaneously with a copy of the Report and any supporting evidence. The parties shall be given ten (10) calendar days from receipt of the Report to respond to the Report and the supporting evidence, which the Title IX Coordinator must consider before finalizing the Report. Any information prohibited from disclosure by law or policy will be redacted from any documents before distribution. Concerning complaints of sexual misconduct, disclosures made to comply with the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act ("VAWA") do not constitute a violation of FERPA.
• The Title IX Coordinator may determine that all or some of the allegations made in the Complaint are substantiated and that the conduct at issue constitutes a violation of this or other applicable procedure. In that case, the Title IX Coordinator shall forward the Report to the appropriate officials at the college for further action under the provisions below and the college's Student Code of Conduct and Disciplinary Procedure or the Positive Discipline Procedure for employees.