New office looks to make its mark on MSU campus

EAST LANSING - A phone call from Florida in October went a long way toward convincing an assistant prosecutor to make a career change.

The call was from Ande Durojaiye, the newly hired director of Michigan State University's Office of Institutional Equity, to Debra Rousseau Martinez, who was then an assistant Ingham County prosecutor specializing in sexual assault and child abuse cases.

The office was created last year to take on the responsibility of investigating discrimination cases, which includes sexual assaults and civil rights violations.

Martinez was trying to decide, which she said was difficult, whether to leave the prosecutor's office after nearly 12 years. The opportunity to be part of a new office focusing on issues affecting 50,000 students rather than one case at a time was already a draw, but the conversation with Durojaiye tipped the scale in MSU's favor.

"He is so charismatic and the expertise he brings and his background, which is more in the civil rights area — I was looking to develop that," she said. "And he is just, I think, so inspiring. The opportunity to have him as a mentor and be able to develop that side of my career was just too good to refuse."

Durojaiye was the executive director of equity, inclusion and compliance at Florida Atlantic University before he was hired by MSU. And prior to that he spent time as an attorney in the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.

It's the same office that last year completed an investigation of MSU’s handling of sexual assault complaints.

Federal investigators identified two complaints made to OCR where MSU failed to respond in a timely manner. The report also identified a number of areas where the university needed to improve, including notifying students of its non-discrimination policy.

Feds: MSU mishandled sexual assault complaints

Both Durojaiye and Martinez said they viewed the opportunity at MSU as a way to help bring the confidence back to students, faculty and staff that complaints will be handled professionally and in a timely manner.

"You want to be able to put your mark on something," Durojaiye said. "So that's kind of what I've said to Deb and all the investigators in the office. We are brand new, have a completely clean slate and we can help really effectuate change and put our mark on this campus so OIE is an office that is a resource going forward."

He said the office's investigators won't be limited to areas that match prior expertise — like sexual assaults with Martinez — but will work to build knowledge in all areas so they can handle any potential case.

"I think MSU has taken steps in the right direction," he said. "I think that we've got a lot of work to do, but I think the biggest thing is having the people in place to do the work.

"I think many institutions are unable to respond because they don't have adequate manpower or human capital. And I don't think that's an issue we're going to have going forward because we have really good investigators."

New office will investigate MSU sexual assaults, discrimination

Martinez's switch from prosecutor to equity investigator has already revealed a few contrasts. For one, her involvement in cases starts sooner. Where she used to rely on law enforcement to investigate, interview parties and gather evidence, that's now part of her job.

And the increased involvement helps with another contrast, the speed with which cases must be handled.

"What I'm learning on campus is those campus wheels (of justice), because of Title IX, must move very quickly," she said. "So for me, that is a complete change of perspective."

With such a large population of college students, Durojaiye said it's important for the office to have responsibilities to investigate complaints and to educate students about what behaviors won't be tolerated.

"If we establish some standards of practice for our students," he said, "they can take those out into the real world and effectuate some change on a much larger scale."

Contact Matt Mencarini at (517) 267-1347 or mmencarini@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter@MattMencarini.