Regent university presidents will review child abuse reporting policies

AMES - Presidents at Iowa's three regent universities will review all institutional policies pertaining to reporting child abuse and report back to state regents in February.

State Board of Regents President Pro Tem Bruce Rastetter Thursday asked the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and University of Northern Iowa presidents to conduct the review and report back on the findings, in light of the recent child sexual abuse scandals at Penn State University and Syracuse University.

Those situations remind board officials of the need to have strong policies in place, Rastetter said.

Rastetter also said the regents will work with Gov. Terry Branstad in his call for all state agencies to review laws and policies regarding the reporting of child abuse. The regents set policy for the UI, ISU, UNI and the state's two special schools.

The regents in 2008 had the universities and special schools review and update procedures for sexual assault responses, after the UI was criticized in an investigation of its handling of a 2007 reported sexual assault involving student athletes.

The 2008 review resulted in more information and training on each campus about the policies and in more streamlined policies that officials said offered clearer guidelines to students who are victims of sexual misconduct, assault or harassment by other students. That overhaul also dumped a controversial “informal” process the UI previously allowed, in favor of formal response processes for students to use and university officials to follow. The changes made in 2008 were reviewed again in 2010 and 2011 at the three universities, the regents heard Thursday.