Saunie Schuster

Saunie Schuster, is a Partner with The NCHERM Group, LLC (National Center for Higher Education Risk Management), a national risk management legal consulting firm and Executive Director of SACCA (Student Affairs Community College Administrators). She is a Co-Founder of ATIXA (the Association for Title IX Administrators). Ms. Schuster is a recognized expert in preventive and civil rights law for education, notably in the fields of Sexual Misconduct and Harassment; Racial Discrimination; First Amendment and Campus Access; ADA and Disability Issues; Risk Management and Liability Issues; Behavior Intervention and Threat Assessment; Student Discipline and Campus Conduct; Intellectual Property and Employment Issues.

Ms. Schusters higher education legal experience includes serving as the General Counsel for Sinclair Community College; as Senior Assistant Attorney General for the State of Ohio, representing public colleges and universities; and as the Associate General Counsel for the University of Toledo. In addition to her legal work in higher education, Ms. Schuster has over twenty-five years experience in college administration and teaching. Prior to practicing law, she was the Associate Dean of Students at The Ohio State University and served as a faculty member at The Ohio State University, Miami University and Columbus State Community College. She provided rape crisis counseling and served on the Board of Directors of Planned Parenthood of Butler County.

Ms. Schuster is co-author of The First Amendment: A Guide for College Administrators, and contributing author to Campus Conduct Practice and The Book on BIT: Forming and Operating Effective Behavioral Intervention Teams of College Campuses. Ms. Schuster is a former President of the Association for Student Conduct Administration (ASCA, formerly ASJA), and held many board positions in that organization. She is the immediate Past- President of NABITA (the National Behavioral Intervention Team Association), an association for higher education, dedicated to the support and professional development of behavioral intervention teams, whose purpose is to make campuses safer through education, prevention and intervention. She is a long time member of the National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA) and served on the conference planning committee. Ms. Schuster is on the Board of Advisors for the Report on Campus Safety and Student Development, published by the Civic Research Institute.

Ms. Schuster holds Masters degrees in counseling and higher education administration from Miami University, and completed her coursework for her Ph.D. in Organizational Development at Ohio State University. She was awarded her juris doctorate degree from the Moritz College of Law, The Ohio State University. Ms. Schuster is admitted to practice law in the State of Ohio, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.