Wade Robinson, DMACC dean of student resources and Ankeny student success, right, spoke during public comment at a Oct. 14 board of trustees meeting. (Photo by Brooklyn Draisey/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
A Des Moines Area Community College dean has filed complaints against DMACC, both within and outside the institution, alleging missing Title IX documents and retaliation against him as a whistleblower.
Wade Robinson, dean of Student Resources and Ankeny Student Success, filed a complaint to the U.S. Department of Education last week as well as a whistleblower complaint through DMACC’s internal process, the second he’s filed this year.
Title IX is a federal law barring discrimination on the basis of sex at colleges, universities and other institutions that receive federal funding.
The first complaint, filed Oct. 18, was related to several Title IX issues, Robinson said, one of which involved a report made on Dec. 6, 2018, to NAVEX One EthicsPoint, the anonymous whistleblower software the college was using at the time. The points he made in his complaint span from April 30, 2017 to the present day, he said.
He was informed after filing a Freedom of Information Act request that the records were not available, as the college had stopped using the service in February 2023 and that the company had not kept any archival data from the time.
“What I asked for was the records that we had on it, so that when the whistleblower complaint was investigated, we could have that as part of the conversation related to whoever was going to do the investigation,” Robinson said. “And that’s when it was stated that … those records no longer exist.”
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
DMACC President Rob Denson said the college is still working to determine whether the company retained backup files of any complaints that went through the software. DMACC stopped paying for the software because of low usage, he said, and he is unaware of any complaints relating to Title IX coming through the system.
Depending on when the system received an anonymous complaint, Denson said several people would see them. Denson said he saw some of the complaints that came through the system, but some were resolved before they got to him. He said he couldn’t comment on the complaints Robinson made as they are subject to ongoing investigations.
Robinson sent an email to the DMACC community Nov. 5 asking for help tracking down this report. So far, Robinson said, he has received no information from people who have them or have access to them.
The second whistleblower complaint made by Robinson late last week through DMACC’s internal process touched on what he felt has been retaliation against him for reporting his concerns, he said. He followed up with a complaint filed to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights on Friday, about both the Title IX issues and alleged retaliation.
Robinson declined to speak on the details of any of his complaints, as he said he is waiting to see how the investigation process plays out. He previously made allegations against DMACC Board Chair Joe Pugel about misuse of DMACC resources during a campaign, which he was told he could not speak about during the public comment period at a board meeting.
Bethany Sweeney, co-chair of the DMACC College Council, said she and others are in communication with the school’s leaders about this issue.
“We are in ongoing dialog with administration to make sure that any questions that our members have, get answered,” Sweeney said.
Processes related to Title IX fall under Robinson’s job duties, he said, and he previously worked as a Title IX investigator for the college in different roles.
Robinson said he is continuing to push these concerns forward because, as well as Title IX being under his purview, it is an important federal policy that is meant to protect everyone on campus.
“We say that the safety and well being of our community is important; I see this as integral to that,” Robinson said. “It’s just simply the right thing to do.”
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.