A seven year-long investigation run by the U.S. Department of Education concluded that UNC-Chapel Hill violated numerous regulations in the Clery Act relating to campus safety, according to the Daily Tar Heel. Through a report sent to the school, the department says UNC-CH failed to include numerous crimes from annual reports, retaliated against members of the university and criticized the university’s administrative capabilities.
Retaliation violations in the report pertained to former student Landen Gambill, who pressed charges through the UNC-CH Office of Student Conduct’s honor court against her former boyfriend, alleging he raped and sexually abused her, according to the Daily Tar Heel. Charges were eventually dropped, and Gambill filed a complaint with other students, saying the university did not acknowledge survivors’ needs.
Charges were then pressed against Gambill, claiming that the complaint she filed was an instance of intimidating behavior, affecting her former boyfriend’s experience at the university, according to the Daily Tar Heel. The report stated that these charges themselves were an instance of retaliation, which the Clery Act prohibits.
The report was released via email to members of the campus Monday, along with a statement from UNC-CH interim chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz, who said that the report’s findings were concerning, and the university can do more.
“We will continue to invest in resources and training to ensure the University has the right tools and procedures to accurately prevent, respond to and report crimes, and issue timely notice of any known safety threats to the campus community,” Guskiewicz said.
The report is publicly available online.