Reports

In response to a recommendation from the deans of the College and the Social Sciences Division, Humanities Division, and Physical Sciences Division, the Norman Committee was charged in April of 2016 to evaluate the University’s academic administrative structures relating to their divisions and the College. This report contains the results of the committee’s exploration of possible alternatives for maintaining the benefits of the current structure and recommended changes to resolve existing obstacles and capitalize on emerging opportunities.

The Diversity Advisory Council (DAC) was formed in February 2015 by the President and Provost of the University of Chicago. The DAC’s charge was to review institutional practices in consultation with members of the campus community in order to “insure an intentionally open community of learning, for all.” The Council was encouraged to consider all forms of diversity and inclusion; advise on best approaches to attracting and retaining underrepresented faculty, students and staff; identify promising approaches to cross-cultural awareness and inclusivity; submit recommendations designed to enhance the priority of diversity and inclusion within the University; and suggest measures for improved institutional coordination of existing initiatives.

The University of Chicago conducted the Sexual Misconduct Survey: Attitudes, Knowledge and Experience, or the Spring 2015 Climate Survey, to examine the campus climate, with a particular focus on questions of sexual misconduct, including sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and sexual harassment. This document constitutes a preliminary report on the outcomes of the survey, which was administered in April 2015 and included all enrolled students 18-years-of-age and older.

The Committee on Freedom of Expression at the University of Chicago was appointed in July 2014 by President Robert J. Zimmer and Provost Eric D. Isaacs “in light of recent events nationwide that have tested institutional commitments to free and open discourse.” The Committee’s charge was to draft a statement “articulating the University’s overarching commitment to free, robust, and uninhibited debate and deliberation among all members of the University’s community.”

The Provost established this committee in Winter Quarter, 2013. His charge to the Committee is reproduced in Appendix I. The committee was established in the aftermath of demonstrations at the Center for Care and Discovery that led to arrests and disciplinary actions against demonstrators and allegations of misconduct against the University of Chicago Police Department. The events surrounding those demonstrations were addressed by a separate investigation and report, and those specific events are not the subject of this Committee’s work. The Provost directed us instead to make recommendations about the principles that should govern protests and demonstrations on campus in the future.

This committee, consisting of faculty, students, and staff, was appointed to consider four specific student disciplinary questions: How ought the University to handle discipline of groups? While ensuring compliance with Federal law, to what extent and under what circumstances may the individual alleging a violation occurred be involved in and apprised of the disciplinary process and its outcome? Should sexual assault cases be heard by a central disciplinary committee? If yes, should domestic violence complaints be heard by that centralized structure, too? Where should the University consider complaints against admitted students who have not yet matriculated?