Iowa State is changing its racial harassment policy based on suggestions made by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in the U.S. Department of Education.

The university and the OCR agreed to several resolutions in a partnership review agreement after OCR officials visited the campus last April.

The agreement was signed by ISU and OCR officials last month.

Carla Espinoza, assistant vice president for Human Resource Services and director of Affirmative Action, said OCR officials were “concerned about the racial climate at ISU.”

The agreement covers several different areas. The resolutions were based on observations the representatives made during their visit.

The resolution called for development of a racial harassment policy, training faculty, staff and students to deal with racial harassment, better notices of non-discrimination in certain publications and forums for discussion about racial issues.

“The most visible result is that they recommended that we have a policy on racial and ethnic harassment,” said John McCarroll, director of University Relations.

Currently, ISU has a broader harassment policy instead of a policy that deals specifically with racial harassment.

“There was not an explicit policy,” said Paul Tanaka, director of University Legal Services. “We do not permit discrimination in any of our policies, but [racial harassment] wasn’t specifically mentioned.”

Tanaka said the proposed harassment policy will be positive for the university.

“Persons with complaints about treatment have a way to let it be known and allow us to investigate and take appropriate action,” he said.

Tanaka said the policy would be beneficial because the university “will be in a better position to avoid liability.”

Espinoza said the purpose of the racial harassment resolution is to improve the environment on campus.

However, she said she believes other methods could have been used instead.

“I don’t think we needed another complaint procedure. We need to modify the old one,” she said. “OCR could have simply said to incorporate racial harassment into the current policy.”

The university is now working on the racial harassment policy. McCarroll said the proposed policy is being reviewed by the Faculty Senate on request of ISU President Martin Jischke.

The OCR set several deadlines for the resolutions. The racial harassment policy is expected to go into effect on June 30.