- About Western Carolina
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- Legal, Compliance, Title IX, Section 504
Legal, Compliance, Title IX, and Section 504
The Office of University Counsel provides legal advice to the Board of Trustees, the Chancellor, the administration, faculty, and staff on legal matters involving or affecting the institution; advises the University administration on a broad range of initiatives, policy matters, and issues; and serves as a liaison between the University and its related and affiliated entities on legal issues. In addition, the Office of University Counsel includes the Office of Compliance, which supports administration, faculty and staff in our mutual effort to maintain compliance with all rules and regulations applicable to WCU.
The Legal Counsel Office does not represent individual faculty, staff members or students in personal legal matters.
Legal, Compliance, Title IX, and Section 504 Staff
Shea Browning
General Counsel
srbrowning@wcu.edu
828.227.7116
Kelly Tornow
Associate General Counsel,
Section 504 Coordinator,
Chief Compliance Officer
ktornow@wcu.edu
828.227.7116
Assistant General Counsel
828.227.7116
Deidre Hopkins
Title IX Coordinator & Equity Officer
dshopkins@wcu.edu
828.227.7116
Rebecca Stevens
University Investigator
rstevens@wcu.edu
828.227.7116
Shelly Fulk
Executive Assistant
safulk@wcu.edu
828.227.7116
Legal Counsel Practice Areas
Our service philosophy is to provide excellent legal services that also advance the business objectives of our clients with sound, common-sense solutions. To maintain efficiency, we have divided the work-flow into primary attorney assignments. If you have a legal question about an area not listed, please give us a call.
Email all external public records requsts to FOIA@wcu.edu.
- Behavioral Assessment Team
- BOT / Governance / Corporate
- Chancellor's Office
- Constitutional Law - Free Speech / Public Assemblies / Religion
- Construction
- Development & Foundation
- Emergency Preparedness
- Ethics Liaison
- Faculty hearings - Chancellor / BOT / Faculty Grievance Committee/Faculty Hearing Committee/Staff Grievance Panel
- Millennial Initiative Development
- Policies / Regulations
- Real Estate
- Technology Transfer Licenses / NDAs
- Title IX Panel
- Utilities (Energy Resale/Radio/TV)
- Workers' compensation
- Athletics (Compliance)
- Conflicts of Interest
- Copyright / Patents / Trademark
- Discrimination/ Harassment / Civil Rights
- E-discovery / litigation hold / privacy & security / voice-over IP / DSSC / NCITP
- Employment matters - SHRA, EHRA non-faculty, Faculty
- Export Controls
- Faculty hearings - University
- Health / HIPAA / Counseling
- Information Technology
- Insurance / Risk Management
- Personnel records
- Sponsored Research
- Staff Hearings - University
- Athletics
- Constitutional Law - Free Speech/Public Assemblies/Religion
- Contracts / Procurement
- Development & Foundation
- Faculty Hearings - University
- FERPA
- Immigration/International Programs
- Law Enforcement
- OCR, EEOC, DOAH
- Policies / Regulations
- Record Retention
- Staff Hearings - University
- Student Affairs (non-Title IX)
- Umstead Act
- Contracts/Affiliations/Procurements
- Litigation
- Open Meetings
- Tax-exempt financing
- Tax-exempt organizations
- Tax matters
- Threat Assessment / Campus Violence
- Transactions
- Title IX Presentations
- Title IX Panel
- Title IX Review
- Policy 53 - Unlawful Discrimination Review
- Title VII Review
- Training and Development (University Investigator)
- Title VII & Title IX Investigations
- Policy 53 - Unlawful Discrimination
- Student Conduct Investigations
- Title VII Investigations
- Title IX Investigations
- Training and Development
- Other Investigations as necessary
DISCLAIMER: These web pages were prepared as an informational service to the Western community. They are not intended to be a comprehensive statement of the law. North Carolina and Federal laws change frequently. Office staffing does not allow immediate updating of these web pages to reflect changes in the law. If you have specific questions with regard to any matter contained in these web pages, please contact University Legal Counsel.
