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UT Austin announces changes to sexual misconduct policies

President Gregory Fenves said the school will strengthen punishment for violating sexual misconduct and increase transparency.

AUSTIN, Texas — In a letter sent Monday, University of Texas President Gregory Fenves announced changes to the University of Texas at Austin's sexual misconduct policies.

The changes come after months of protests, community meetings and recommendations from a consulting firm related to how the school handles sexual misconduct complaints and policy violations. 

The letter highlights three major changes to the school's sexual misconduct policies. Those changes promise streamlined resources for supporting survivors, strengthening punishment for any faculty or staff members found guilty of violating sexual misconduct policies and increasing transparency if employees are not terminated after violating misconduct policies. 

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News of changes to UT Austin's sexual misconduct policies also comes after a KVUE Defenders investigation, which uncovered the school tracks sexual misconduct complaints in individual employee files, rather than a centralized database. Experts told the KVUE Defenders that it makes it difficult to identify and correct trends. 

In January, SB 212 took effect, which tightened requirements for how universities report sexual misconduct complaints and policy violations. 

Students have staged several protests at UT Austin in recent months over how the school handles sexual misconduct complaints, including interrupting the class of an employee who violated sexual misconduct policies

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In the note sent to the UT Community on Monday, Fenves also mentions recommendations made by the consulting firm Husch Blackwell, which met with UT Austin students and employees to review the university's sexual misconduct policies. 

"I have accepted all of these recommendations," Fenves said in the letter. "We are now beginning implementation of the recommendations, and you will have opportunities to provide input as part of UT's procedure for instituting new policies."

The letter from Fenves did not give a timeline for when the policy changes will be implemented, and a spokesperson for UT Austin could not confirm when the policies will take effect. 

"As with all changes in university policy, new language will be developed and approved for our Handbook of Operating Procedures," UT Austin Communications Strategist Shilpa Bakre said. "This will be done with input from community members, including Faculty Council. We are finalizing the details of this process and how stakeholders can provide input. We hope to make these changes and implement the new policies as quickly as possible."

WATCH: Defenders: Tracking sexual misconduct complaints at UT Austin

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UT students interrupt class of professor who violated sexual misconduct policies

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