Grand River Solutions Title IX Review

In October 2020, Moody Bible Institute leadership received an open letter from a concerned group of students and alumni regarding their experiences of reporting sexual harassment and sexual and interpersonal violence while they were students attending Moody. In November 2020, Moody retained Grand River Solutions (GRS) to conduct an independent, third-party review of our policies, protocols, and handling of such reports of sexual harassment and sexual and interpersonal violence. GRS completed their review in April 2020 and reported their findings and recommendation. Moody leadership then conducted a rigorous internal process to fully and thoughtfully review GRS’s report and developed 11 strategic commitments for implementation beginning with the fall 2021 term. In January 2022, Moody released it final, updated and enhanced Title IX policies and procedures. The updated policies, GRS’s report, Moody’s strategic commitments, and a progress report detailing the implementation of those commitments are available here.

Moody Bible Institute retained Grand River Solutions (GRS) in November 2020, because they are a national consulting firm with extensive experience in Title IX and assisting faith-based institutions with these matters. Because we take these matters very seriously, Moody leadership called for an independent, third-party review of our Title IX practices, procedures, and protocols. We are grateful for the thorough process review and interviews that the GRS team conducted.

Yes. Grand River Solutions (GRS) conducted interviews with approximately 35 members of the Moody community, including students, alumni, faculty, and staff, in order to assess the effectiveness and impact of training, prevention efforts, communications, and the processes and procedures in place to respond to reports of sexual harassment. In an effort to ensure that as many individuals as possible were able to confidentially speak with the GRS team as a part of their review, we requested that GRS extend the fact-gathering phase of their review until February 28, 2021, which they granted. We are grateful for the thorough process review and the interviews that GRS conducted. We are also appreciative of the courage of our students and alumni, both women and men, who came forward with their stories, and for their vulnerability in sharing their difficult and sometimes painful experiences.

Our former Dean of Students retired, as was previously planned, prior to Grand River Solutions’ (GRS) Title IX review. We welcomed Dr. William Washington as our Vice President and Dean of Students on April 5, 2021. While on administrative leave, our former Title IX Coordinator voluntarily resigned her position in order to pursue other opportunities and is no longer employed by the Institute.

As recommended by our third party investigators with Grand River Solutions, Moody will start to release to the community annual reports on the number of cases reviewed. To protect the privacy interests of reporting parties, Moody’s reporting will be statistical in nature and not include details or any identifying information.

The work of Grand River Solutions (GRS) was to conduct an independent, third-party review of Moody’s policies, protocols, and handling of Title IX-related cases (see question #1). Leadership’s call for that investigation stemmed from an open letter to Moody from a concerned group of students and alumni. GRS’s review identified several areas of growth for Moody with regard to clear and consistent policies, reporting systems, increased resourcing, enhanced training, and other best practices. In response, Moody developed 11 strategic commitments for implementation beginning with the Fall 2021 term. We released these strategic commitments to our community on May 17 and in September 2021, made our initial progress report available to the public. In January 2022, we released our final updated and enhanced Title IX policies and procedures to our community, and the public. Those materials can be read here.

Grand River Solutions’ (GRS) independent review of Moody’s Title IX office and related practices began in November 2020, and concluded in April 2021. The process included interviews with members of the Moody community and an examination of Moody Title IX case files, Title IX policy, and related procedures, templates, training materials, and websites. Upon receiving GRS’s report, Moody leadership conducted a rigorous internal process to fully and thoughtfully review GRS’s report to develop our strategic commitments for implementing GRS’s recommendations. We are grateful to GRS for the thoroughness of their report and to those who participated in the review process. An understanding of our students’ experiences with our Title IX and related processes helped us create a path forward toward enhancing the safety and well-being of all members of our Moody community. For more information on our implementation plan, click here to read our progress report.

Grand River Solutions (GRS) completed their independent review of our Title IX office and related practices, and Moody has publicly posted GRS’s recommendations, which include high-level findings from GRS’s review and can be read here. As GRS stated in their cover letter for the recommendations, the complete report and interview transcripts are not being made publicly available to protect the privacy and anonymity of the community members who participated in this process. They were assured confidentiality in order to encourage honest and open contributions. We are grateful to GRS for the thoroughness of their report and to those who made their voices heard during the process.

Grand River Solutions’ (GRS) review identified several areas of growth for Moody with regard to clear and consistent policies, reporting systems, increased resourcing, enhanced training, and other best practices. In response, we developed 11 strategic commitments for implementation beginning with the Fall 2021 term, and released our final, updated and enhanced Title IX policies and procedures in January 2022. More information on GRS’s findings and recommendations, as well as Moody’s strategic commitments and final policies, are available on our Title IX web page.

Yes. To more clearly demarcate between Moody’s response to sexual conduct that is consensual, but prohibited by our theological and moral student life code of ethics found in our Student Life Guide, and sexual harassment or sexual violence, Moody has adopted a single policy governing its response to all reports of sexual harassment and sexual violence, regardless of the context in which such nonconsensual prohibited conduct occurs. We have no tolerance for sexual harassment or sexual violence toward, or between members of our community, and are committed to improving our Title IX protocols to effectively respond to and thoroughly investigate such allegations.

We have no tolerance for sexual harassment or violence toward or between members of our community, and we are committed to improving our Title IX protocols to effectively and thoroughly investigate such allegations. As part of that commitment, Moody developed 11 strategic commitments for implementation beginning with the Fall 2021 term. We released our final, updated and enhanced Title IX policies and protocols in January, 2022,. More information on Moody’s strategic commitments and final policies are available here.

As part of our updated policies and procedures, we increased resourcing, including additional staffing, training, and support system resources, for the Title IX office. For further information on our new policies and personnel, click here.

Yes. Moody is fully committed to beginning to implement all 11 strategic commitments by the start of the fall 2021 semester. As number 3 in our 11 key strategic commitments states: 

3. We commit to increased resourcing to provide additional support for the Title IX Office and ensure effective care for our students and employees.
This will include hiring additional personnel, enhancing training, and implementing provisions for timely and efficient resolution.

For more information on our progress implementing this and our additional commitments, click here.

More information on our Title IX resources is available on our Title IX web page.

As stated in our May 17 update, we humbly recognize where we have fallen short and the pain this has caused students and their loved ones. As a Christ-centered institution founded on the Word of God, we deeply value the worth and dignity of every person and are committed to providing a healthy, God-honoring culture on each campus. We are extremely grateful to those within our community who bravely shared their experience with Grand River Solutions. Please see our strategic commitments on the Title IX web page to learn more about our path forward to effectively and thoroughly investigate allegations of sexual harassment or violence. By God’s grace, and the commitment of the entire Moody community, we will regain your trust and confidence and create an environment that allows students to grow and mature in a safe and wholesome environment.

In the cases where our commitments are marked as complete, administrative and operations procedures have been undertaken and finalized in order to fully implement those commitments. Several of those commitments form the bedrock of our ongoing commitment to ensuring a safe, nurturing, and empowering community for survivors of sexual assault. Moody leaders are dedicated to preserving a reinvigorated culture of safety for the benefit of future generations of Moody students.

Our commitment to ensuring the Moody community is safe, nurturing, and empowering for survivors of sexual assault is an ongoing mission. The process to implement our 11 strategic commitments is comprehensive and is being undertaken with care and thoroughness. While this process will take time to complete, in some cases, our commitments are ongoing and have no applicable end date. Where applicable, we intend to fulfill our commitments as early as is possible. We will update the community on the status of our outstanding commitments as appropriate.

Moody’s ongoing commitments are those that have no applicable end date are and intended to be continually be built into our culture. These may be cultural commitments or those that involve consistent review, reinforcement, and training.

Moody’s in-progress commitments, while also long-term, may require additional administrative or operational attention to complete. We will update the community on the status of these commitments as appropriate.

In some cases, our commitments are ongoing and will require long-term and consistent review. In cases where a completion date is applicable, we intend to fulfill those commitments at the earliest possible date. We will update the community on the status of our outstanding commitments as appropriate.

In November 2020, Moody retained Grand River Solutions (GRS) to conduct an independent, third-party review of our policies, protocol, and handling of Title IX-related cases. GRS completed its review in April 2021 (see a list of all community updates). Moody Bible Institute’s strategic commitments and implementation process were developed by leaders in the Moody community based on the GRS report.