The Title IX office is located in Blake C 118. The office itself provides students with literature (pictured above) and services to aid students who unfortanutley encounter sexual violence. Title IX is a divsion of the United States Depatment of Education that serves to protect students from sexual harassment, sexual assault and sex based discrimination (Emma Boskovski/News Editor).
On Oct. 4 2014, a female student reported to the college that she felt herself to be the victim of what Livingston County District Attorney Greg McCaffrey describes as a “brutal, forcible sexual and physical assault” perpetrated by another student in a campus residence hall. The college did not notify any local law enforcement agencies and criminal charges were not pursued.
According to McCaffrey, the alleged perpetrator, 22-year-old Phillip Pang, is now facing multiple felony charges five years later. Pang was taken into custody in Queens, N.Y. on Aug. 21 for a class D and class B felony.
The specifics of Pang’s charges are first-degree criminal sex act and first-degree sex abuse. The class B felony alone could warrant Pang anywhere from five to 25 years in prison.
“An incident was reported recently to a New York State law enforcement agency of a sexual assault and a physical assault that occurred back in 2014,” McCaffrey said. “Once the case arrived at proper channels, I was approached by a New York State investigator. Upon arriving at the conclusion that we had enough evidence, we had a basis to go forward with an arrest and a prosecution. I am confident this case will reach the grand jury.”
McCaffrey said he was made aware of the case in the last three months.
“One of the things that we discovered is that there were some reports, information or notations already made back when this happened,” McCaffrey said. “These reports detailed that the victim had reported the incident to the college and the suspect had been notified of the accusation. From my understanding, at that point, the college has their protocol and the case went no further. I was never contacted.”
According to 2015 filings reported to New York State Department of Education, there were two instances of rape and three instances of fondling that occurred on campus in 2014. The report is not transparent as to whether Pang was the perpetrator of any of those reported incidents.
“Whether I was not contacted because of Title IX or what the victim wanted, it is unsettling to me to say the least that an allegation for a violent sexual assault, as well as a brutal physical assault, went no further than it did,” McCaffrey said. “This is a pretty small community, and I do not see how myself or outside law enforcement was never notified until five years later.”
Upon sought comment from Chief Communications and Marketing Officer Gail Glover and University Police Chief Thomas Kilcullen, requests were redirected to the State Police and Geneseo’s Title IX Coordinator Tamara Kenney.
“Students must report sexual assault disclosures to my office,” Kenney said. “I will reach out to the student typically via email with a standardized letter that explains their options and services. Students often will follow-up by coming in and we will have a conversation about what is it they need. If all the student wants to do is take inter-measures and allocate resources, that is where the situation ends.”
According to the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, federal law requires United States colleges who receive state funding to disclose information about crime on their campuses. This act is enforced by the Department of Education and requires colleges and universities to publish an annual security report and disclose crime statistics for incidents that occur on campus, among other requirements.
“Some data is collected by Clearly and that demonstrates the location of incidents based on campus geography,” Kenney said. “Title IX also reports data to the State Department of Education. Title IX is concerned about the who, and not the where, and often that data is not consistent with one another.”
Kenney went on to explain Geneseo’s sexual violence response policy.
“If a student were to report that they had been sexually assaulted, my office would meet with that person, talk about the incident and talk about what they needed in terms of support services,” Kenney said. “From there, it is really up to the student to decide where they would like to go. They can solely disclose to this office, they can request a Title IX investigation or they can file a report with local law enforcement or the state police.”
A Title IX investigation invites the student conduct office to the case through a student conduct action. If both parties are students, an investigation is held by the college’s Title IX investigator. Upon investigation, a report would be drafted and given to Kenney.
“If the report appears to rise to the level of sexual assault or an act of interpersonal violence, we would send the report to student conduct,” Kenney said. “They would then hold a student conduct board to determine if accountability lies with the perpetrator, and if it does, what is the most appropriate sanction.”
According to Geneseo’s sexual violence response policy under the student conduct process, students are granted the right to a concurrent criminal justice investigation conducted by outside law enforcement.
“We don’t work too closely with the Livingston County Police, we do a lot of work with the state police,” Kenney said. “We have established lines of communication with the state police and the University Police.”
According to an article published by the Livingston County News on Aug. 29, Pang is being accused of “putting his mouth on and fingers inside the victim’s vagina while the victim was incapable of giving consent by reason of being physically helpless.”
“There are probably a lot of reasons why it wasn’t discussed or reported for five years,” McCaffrey said. “Clearly, something happened that day that was reported. Now almost five years later, the victim is in a position where she wants to move forward and that is what we are doing now.”
Since the investigation began, Pang has been arrested and endured pre-arraignment detention at the Livingston County Jail. Before Dansville Town Justice Scott Kenney, Pang was arraigned on Aug. 22 where bail was set at $5,000 cash or a $10,000 bond. McCaffrey advised bail to be set at $25,000 cash. Since, he has made bail and was released from jail on Aug. 27.
“I think the largest thing to pay attention to is that most often, victims are reluctant to take steps towards justice,” McCaffrey said. “With law enforcement involvement, there are many steps we can take at the onset of such a report. There are a million things that we can gather to pursue a case without making the victim go in front of a judge, jury or face the perpetrator. We want to give you all of the time, space and support that you would need when in a situation of sexual violence to ensure justice. I feel that we are being deprived of that opportunity, why, I don’t know. Why are we not joining forces to bring justice, I cannot understand.”
According to a statement given by a college spokesperson, Pang did graduate from the college three years after the alleged assault in 2017. This same statement attributed that UPD “played an integral role in the joint investigation,” according to the article.
“There is documentation that shows in close proximity to the alleged offense that she [the victim] went to somebody on the university’s campus and filed a report,” MCaffrey said. “Why the first time I hear about that is nearly five years later is baffling to me. There are no lines of communication open between us and Residence Life. The fact that I still have a viable prosecution five years later makes me wonder, did he remain on Geneseo’s campus? Did he commit any other crimes while he remained there? How did she feel to see him on campus? It is very unsettling.”