Update on UMBC’s Settlement Agreement with the DOJ

Fall 2025

In April 2024, UMBC voluntarily entered into an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to improve significantly the university’s work to prevent and respond to reports of sexual misconduct and sex discrimination under Title IX. The agreement came as the result of a lengthy investigation by the DOJ into UMBC’s Title IX compliance. 

The agreement committed UMBC to continue to implement measures to enhance the strength, accountability, and independence of the university’s Title IX office; provide specific support for student-athletes and the Athletics Department staff who serve them; expand training for students and employees to improve UMBC’s prevention and response to sex discrimination; and provide financial relief to certain current and former members of the Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving team, as determined by the DOJ. The agreement requires regular reporting by UMBC to the DOJ and will remain in effect through the 2028-2029 academic year.

At the time of the agreement, many of its provisions were already underway. In the past 20 months since entering into the agreement, we have fully implemented all of the initial provisions of the agreement. 

The update below provides a detailed report of our progress since the Spring 2025 update. 

Staffing

UMBC hired a vice president for equity and civil rights and Title IX coordinator; who began in the role on November 3, 2025. 

Other positions within the Office of Equity and Civil Rights (ECR) have been filled:

• Two Case Managers (June 2025)
• Civil Rights Hearing Officer (August 2025)
• Senior Case Manager and Deputy Title IX Coordinator (August 2025)

To bolster the advocacy services managed through the Women’s, Gender, and Equity Center, the university added a respondent advocate role to compliment the work being provided by the survivor advocate. 

Policies and Processes

The university continues to review and refine its policies and processes. Among them: 

• ECR continues to refine its internal protocols for intake, investigation, and resolution of Title IX complaints.
• ECR continues its use of an electronic case management system for receiving and storing reports and has made efforts to streamline case management and data gathering processes and improve the quality of communications sent to parties through the case management system. 
• In July 2025, ECR completed its third biannual review of all reports of sex discrimination received in the preceding six months to determine whether the university had met its obligations; the Title IX coordinator conducted these reviews, confirming compliance and identifying report trends and recommendations for action. 
• During the summer, ECR and the Office of Health Promotions worked with the Coordinated Community Response Team (CCRT)  to conduct a rigorous self-assessment of ECR’s Policy on Sex Discrimination, Sex-Based Harassment, and Sexual Misconduct as part of the University’s work with NASPA’s Culture of Respect Collective (Cohort 9). In September 2025, a representative from Culture of Respect conducted a campus site visit to meet with campus leadership and community members. As part of this site visit, the representative facilitated student, faculty, and staff listening sessions to gather community input. The feedback received from the assessment will help guide the University’s work around sexual violence prevention and response over the next year. 

Coordination of Campus Resources

• The University continues to foster and formalize greater collaboration among ECR and campus partners, including, but not limited to, the Athletics Department, the Dean of Students, Retriever Care, Retriever Integrated Health, Residential Life, the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards, and Campus Police. ECR continues to review and refine its internal operating protocol to outline the roles and responsibilities of each campus partner when responding to reports of sex discrimination.
• Sue Poandl, director of Retriever CARE, has been designated as a deputy Title IX coordinator for students. The Department of Athletics is in the process of identifying a deputy Title IX coordinator for athletics. These deputy Title IX coordinator roles will serve as a liaison with ECR to enhance the coordination of reporting and response efforts. 
• The Coordinated Community Response Team had a quarterly meeting with President Sheares Ashby and the Vice President for Institutional Equity to update them on the work of the CCRT and the vision for the CCRT moving forward.

Training

UMBC launched its annual mandatory Title IX training for all students in August 2025 and launched its annual mandatory training for faculty and staff in October 2025. 

Mandatory training for all Athletics staff, to include coaches and administrators, occurred in November 2025. 

ECR continues to provide supplemental training to various groups across campus using training materials evaluated and enhanced by the DOJ. 

Prevention and Educational Programming

Campus-wide prevention programming and education activities, led by the Women’s, Gender, and Equity Center, the Office of Health Promotions, and the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards, continue to be offered during the 2025-2026 academic year. 

The University entered into a formal memorandum of understanding (MOU) with TurnAround, Inc. As part of the MOU, TurnAround staff will assist with the development and provision of prevention programming and training, participate in the CCRT, meet quarterly with the University’s Title IX Coordinator, Survivor Advocate, and/or Respondent Advocate to share information about the needs of victims, trends in sexual assault services provided, additional services that may be needed by students and employees, and the effectiveness of UMBC’s sexual assault prevention and response program, and provide an advocate to have a weekly presence on campus. 

In October 2025, UMBC earned the Campus Prevention Network (CPN) Seal of Prevention™ from Vector Solutions. The CPN Seal of Prevention™ is awarded to schools who have gone above and beyond to create a safer, more supportive learning environment through the use of digital prevention programming. One key initiative contributing to this recognition is UMBC’s mandatory student training, managed by the Office of Equity and Civil Rights. This annual training helps students build healthy relationships, intervene when they’re worried about a peer’s safety, and respond effectively to sexual violence when it occurs. This Seal honors UMBC’s commitment to sexual violence prevention, student success, and community well-being. Awardees are statistically more likely to keep students enrolled and graduating on time. Read more about the Campus Seal of Prevention™  and the 2025 honorees in Vector Solutions’ national press release.

End-of-Season Surveys and Feedback from Student-Athletes

UMBC updated its end-of-season survey for student-athletes to incorporate feedback received from the DOJ. This survey continues to be administered to student-athletes at the end of each season. The survey results are reviewed by the director of athletics and any concerns related to sex discrimination or harassment are shared with ECR. 

Policy on Expectations for Coaches’ Behavior

UMBC updated its policy outlining behavioral expectations for coaching staff to incorporate feedback received from the DOJ.

Monitoring

The DOJ team was on campus in April 2025 to conduct a first-year monitoring site visit. 

UMBC submitted its third monitoring report to the DOJ covering the period of January 1, 2025 to June 30, 2025. This report provided a summary of the university’s progress in meeting the terms of the settlement agreement. The report also included the results of the Title IX Coordinator’s biannual review of the university’s response to all sex discrimination reports and identified trends in reporting.