Title 11 Case Study

Sexual assault is defined by the department of justice as: any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient. Falling under the definition of sexual assault are sexual activities as forced sexual intercourse, forcible sodomy, child molestation, incest, fondling, and attempted rape. Women aged 18-24, in college, are three times greater at risk than the average woman any age. (RAINN). The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has 246 ongoing investigations into how 195 colleges and universities handled sexual assault under Title IX. (Huffington Post). Many ask, Why on college campuses? Why have these statistics been rising? For a rapist or an assaulter, college is

It’s a statistic that has circled around the nation for years, one that imprints fear into the minds of young adults and rage into those that demand justice: 1 in 5 female college students will experience sexual assault in the duration of their college career (Clark), with only 20% of those rapes being reported to the police (Hefling). As a topic that is so highlighted in American society, there is a strict demand for an organized, thorough investigation that will result in justice served. Controversy regarding whether the colleges themselves or the criminal justice system should adjudicate the punishment for these vile crimes has arisen; some believe that as an actual crime, these assaults should be taken in a legal stance in order to serve justice at its fullest extent. Others believe that determining punishment through the court system is too nerve-wracking for the victims and that by allowing colleges to do so is the only way they can avoid feeling “skepticism” by the police, juries, or courts (Know Your IX). However, when juxtaposing the capabilities of the colleges and the court system when it comes to the adjudication process, it is evident that the courts are more competent in determining punishments for campus sexual assaults.

Despite having hundreds of sexual assault cases each year, most colleges take little action to resolve these cases. In fact, only 20% of female sexual assault survivors report cases, the rest believing that it was too personal to share, or that if they did, the police wouldn’t listen to them. If they did report, often times it was to the local police rather than the campus police in fear that they would be shamed or turned away by the universities.

In 2011 the Department of Education released a “Dear Colleague” letter aimed at reminding educators of a fact established by the Supreme Court: under Title IX, schools much ensure survivors of sexual assault can stay in school and learn safely and notified colleges and university that the federal government was going to be aggressive on sexual misconduct. However, under DeVos’s new ruling the federal government is pulling back their investigation into sexual assault on college campuses.

Parents are looking for safe places where their children will be able to acquire a vigorous education; therefore, safety is one of the main concerns when it comes to selecting colleges. This places institutions in a situation where they will do anything to keep a good reputation. There is a consumer protection law called The Clery Act passed in 1990, which requires institutions to report crimes that happen on campus (Bulletin), but statistics like “ninety-one percent of college campuses disclosed zero reported incidences of rape in 2014” (Becker) clearly show how colleges are trying to hide the truth regardless of the policy. This is a moral hazard that creates an incentive for colleges to not accurately report cases. It’s been established that most of cases are not reported, which it is something “good” for institutions because they are less affected. But what if all cases were to be reported to the police instead? Institutions will definitely make sure to prevent any sexual assault in the first place. Consequently, there is a loss of trust in the institutions because victims believe that nothing will be done just like in the Turner case. Are institutions willing to sacrifice their reputation by making public every sexual assault case? We know that the answer for this is no. They value more the money that enters the institution more than the safety of the students who bring the

Title IX is a law that states, "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance..." —United States Code Section 20. There are most definitely people that would oppose this law, but most can agree. There should not be discrimination to women, and there shouldn’t have been from the start. Title IX provides women freedom to be able to do whatever men can do.

The lack of consistency in higher learning institutions can be attributed to that “until recently such institutions have not been subjected to legal sanction for failing to address the problem (Schneider, 1987, p. 525) Schneider writes, “only two reported federal cases have presented a claim of sexual harassment under Title IX” (p. 527). At the time, the only two reported cases were Alexander v Yale University (1980) and Moine v Temple Univ. School of Medicine (1986). More recently, however, in 2015, Michigan State was in violation of Title IX, as they were not appropriately vetting sexual harassment cases on their campus. “Prior to and during the course of Office for Civil Rights (OCR) investigation, the university made revisions to its Title IX policies and procedures in an effort to correct several Title IX compliance concerns” (ProQuest, 2015). Reiterating the amount of obscurity that exists within the policies that each institution enforces and abides by is, for the most part, no use.

LeBlanc said that George Washington University would continue deciding responsibility in sexual assault cases using the “preponderance of evidence,” or more likely than not standard, something that has been around since before it was federally mandated in 2011.

Despite federal laws issued to combat sexual violence, each year 4,000 college women report to school officials that they've been sexually assaulted. What happens after they file those reports has stirred debate on campuses across the country, leaving parents and students fearful that colleges may not be the ivory towers of security and integrity that appear on their recruitment pamphlets.

Henrick (2015) shares when the school finds out they must stop the behavior, prevent its recurrence, and remedy its effect on the victim. This means if needed actions against the accused harassers needs to be taken seriously for the victim and the accused. Just like any other statutory right, it can only be effective if everyone follows the rules and does the correct procedures to ensure the safety of the students. Rubin (1981) writes there is dual enforcement of Title IX which is if someone who claims to have been a victim of sex discrimination they can sue his or her educational institution directly in civil court and also file a complaint with the office of Civil

In 2016, The United States Department of Justice released this chilling fact: one out of every four female undergraduates will be victim to some form of sexual assault before graduation. Even more terrifying, the American Civil Liberties Union estimates that at least 95 percent of sexual assaults on college campuses in the United States go unreported. These striking statistics resonate a dire call for increased prevention of sexual assault on campuses across the nation. With the passing of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators in 1994, many universities and colleges began to enact sexual assault protection programs (Breitenbecher Hanson). However, as proven by the recent statistics presented earlier, these programs are

The Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 states that higher education institutions must respond once a sexual violence case is brought to their attention; however, it does not state how higher education institutions should go about the reporting and treatment of students who are victims, or perpetrators, of sexual violence. It should be noted that student victims of sexual violence tend to disengaged with their universities by skipping social functions, missing or dropping out of classes, failing classes, and in extreme cases, withdrawing from their university (Kaukinen, 2014).

The challenges courts face when balancing the need of addressing sexual assault on campus with the need to provide appropriate due process for the accused in university disciplinary proceedings.

While she said the damage had been done in her case, she filed a federal complaint in hopes of saving other victims from facing similar problems. In early 2016 the same student that transferred because of the harassment found out that Notre Dame had more sexual assault case which allegedly involves a serial offender and multiple undergraduates. She provided a quote for the situation “I’ve talked to one of the students involved in that,” the former graduate student said. “A lot of what went wrong in that case are exactly the same things that me and the other complainant in the sexual harassment complaints were dealing with — not letting people present evidence, Title IX complaints not being treated as Title IX complaints. The thing that sort of breaks my heart is, had the university addressed the things we had been concerned about in 2013, their complaints would’ve been handled differently, in a way that would’ve been less harmful to the students.” She also said, “A climate that doesn’t take harassment seriously is going to be the same kind of climate where sexual violence cases go wrong.” This quote is very powerful and true. If Notre Dame is going to keep sweeping everything under the rug then the environment will not get any better. At this point the

Since 2011, federal investigations of more than 7% of US colleges have been opened due to suspected Title IX violations. Why should we, as college students, worry about this? Only 16% of the cases have been closed, and because of the wide reach of culture, even our own community is affected by what takes place in these far-off universities.