Staff
The Office of the University-Wide Committee on Sexual Misconduct (UWC) is chaired by Sarah Demers, Professor of Physics. Senior Associate Director Anita Sharif-Hyder organizes the activities of the UWC and acts as a liaison with the parties, their advisers and witnesses. The UWC’s Project Coordinators, Elizabeth Tiboni and Kelly Guerra, support the day-to-day functioning of the office and coordinate hearing logistics.
If you have questions about the University’s sexual misconduct policy or the formal hearing process, or if you wish to bring a formal complaint to the UWC, please contact the Chair or a Director of the UWC. Meet our staff.
Members
The members of the Office of the University-Wide Committee on Sexual Misconduct (UWC) are listed below. A panel of three trained members hears each case, along with a hearing officer with legal training, who will preside over the hearing. A majority vote of the hearing panel is required for a finding of responsibility, to provide remedies, or to impose penalties, except that a unanimous vote is required to impose a penalty of expulsion, termination, or three or more terms of suspension. The hearing panel provides a written decision report of its findings, conclusions, remedies, and penalties to the parties.
Advisors
The Office of the University-Wide Committee on Sexual Misconduct (UWC) advisors offer personal and moral support to parties before, during and after a hearing. Advisors can also help parties prepare for meetings, respond to communications that are part of the UWC process and ask questions on behalf of their advisee of the opposing party and any witnesses during a UWC hearing. Advisors are trained in the UWC’s procedures, Yale’s sexual misconduct policies and related definitions, and their role as advisors in UWC proceedings. Please contact the UWC Office at 203-432-4449 if you wish to receive the support of a UWC advisor.
Investigators
When a complaint is brought to the UWC, the UWC Chair will appoint an investigator. The investigator will gather documents and conduct interviews as necessary to reach an understanding of the facts and circumstances surrounding the allegations of the complaint. The investigator prepares a confidential report, which is shared with the parties and the hearing panel.
Decision Makers
The hearing panel, composed of three UWC members and a legally-trained Hearing Officer, will hear testimony, decide responsibility, provide remedies designed to restore or preserve equal access to Yale’s education programs and activities for the complainant, and impose penalties on a respondent who has been found to have violated Yale’s policy on sexual misconduct. A tenured professor serving on the UWC will decide appeals.