In the wake of several multi-million dollar judgments and settlements against California State University Fresno for gender discrimination, Dean called the school’s top administrators before the Senate to testify on their record of compliance with Title IX, the landmark federal legislation to ensure gender equity in education.

At Dean’s urging, the California State Senate formed the Select Committee on Gender Discrimination and Title IX Implementation, through which Dean has held hearings not only on Fresno State but on the statewide public university system, asking campuses to reflect on their own records of gender equity and ways in which they can improve. His efforts were spotlighted in the Spring 2008 issue of Ms. Magazine.

Dean introduced legislation, Senate Bill 195, to hold university leaders accountable for gender discrimination which occurs on their campuses. The measure calls for a responsible Title IX officer at each campus to provide personal assurance they are incompliance with federal discrimination law before receiving state financial assistance, at the risk of civil penalties for false claims of equality.

The recent conviction of designer Anand Jon for multiple counts of sexual assault against young women who were modeling for him led to the revelation that, after his conviction and incarceration, at least one of his young victims felt she was being revictimized through the internet by Jon’s associates. Her on-line friends, not all of whom were close personal friends or knew of her involvement in the case, were also contacted and given personal information about the victim – a gross violation of her privacy.

Dean and victims’ rights attorney Gloria Allred recently introduced legislation, Senate Bill 834, to address this new form of cyber harassment. Under Dean’s measure, the court would have jurisdiction to address contact of a victim or her friends through today’s social networking sites in their protective orders.