Ron Wilson, the University of Arizona’s first-ever vice president for equity and inclusion, resigned his position last month to take a job with the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Wilson’s last day with the UA was Jan. 6, according to a UA spokesman.
“Ron will continue to be a friend to the university and a valuable community partner,” according to an email sent to staff by UA president Robert C. Robbins, announcing Wilson’s departure for “other leadership opportunities.”
Wilson’s most recent contract was set to expire on Jan. 26. He told the Star on Thursday the consulting job with the UN would require him to be out of the country for weeks or months at a time, which would not allow him the time to perform the functions and fulfill the duties of his UA position. He echoed his sentiments from shortly after his hiring, saying he still believes the UA, under Robbins’ leadership, is poised to be a national model for success in the fields of diversity, equity and inclusion.
Wilson, a former South Tucson judge, was hired by the UA in October 2018 — four months after an outside review of the UA’s Title IX policies and procedures by a San Francisco-based attorney recommended the creation of a full-time Title IX director. Title IX is a federal law that guarantees gender equity in education and protects students from sexual harassment, assault and dating violence. Three months after Wilson’s hiring, Robbins announced the creation of the new Department of Title IX, Equity and Inclusion, with Wilson in charge at a salary of $210,000 annually.
Mary Beth Tucker, who ran the UA’s Title IX program and performed other duties on campus before Wilson’s hiring, has been serving as interim associate vice president of equity and Title IX coordinator.
The UA is currently involved in two federal Title IX lawsuits from students who say the university failed to protect them from domestic violence.
Both plaintiffs dated former Wildcats football player Orlando Bradford, who is serving a five-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to two counts of domestic violence-related aggravated assault.
The lawsuits were filed in October 2017 and January 2018.
In March 2018, the UA hired Natasha Baker, the San Francisco-based Title IX attorney, to review its program and recommend changes. The $124,000 review was completed in June, with the UA announcing it would be conducting a national search to find its Title IX director.
Wilson had a connection to both Tucson and Title IX. Wilson was a South Tucson judge from 2002-14, the first African American to hold the position. From there, he went to Edinboro University, where he worked as chief diversity officer, equal opportunity administrator, Title IX coordinator and investigator from 2015 to 2018.
He left that job for the UA, where he had served as an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Africana Studies.
During his 14 months at the UA, Wilson worked with the UA’s Consortium on Gender-Based Violence to create a credit-based curriculum around bystander intervention, toxic masculinity, sexual assault awareness and prevention, and mental health.
Wilson taught a Title IX symposium to first-year students in the Honors College, where he essentially trained them to become peer trainers.
In addition to his job with the United Nations, Wilson has started his own Title IX consulting business.
He’s already in the process of working with libraries, museums, elementary and middle schools to provide training sessions on issues surrounding consent, drugs and alcohol and party culture. Wilson said these conversations can happen without talking about sex.
“My hope is that by working with parents, teachers, guidance counselors and kids at a young age, we can reduce the number of victims and respondents who find themselves part of a Title IX investigation when they get to college,” Wilson said. “There’s a lot that can be accomplished by working with students when they’re still in middle and high school.”
Wilson has remained in contact with Robbins, and has offered his assistance as a consultant as the UA moves ahead with expanding its Title IX program. Wilson said there are plans in the works for the UA to offer Title IX credentialing through the law school, host an annual Title IX conference for the Pac-12 and even set up a Title IX institute.
“I think the UA is still poised to be the kind of institute (Robbins) wanted it to be when I was there,” Wilson said, adding that there are people across the country working in the fields of diversity, equity and inclusion that Robbins could easily attract to the position.
Wilson will split his time between New York, Washington D.C. and The Hague, but plans to return to Tucson whenever possible.
