The U.S. Department of Education has proposed changes to Title IX, the federal legislation enacted to provide procedures for investigating sexual assault and harassment on federally-funded college and university campuses. While these recent changes have prompted backlash from university community members, the process for reporting sexual assault on college campuses has largely been the same since the bill was passed.
The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights issued what is known as the Dear Colleague letter in April of 2011, which urged colleges to follow certain procedures still in use today.
Dave Johnson, an assistant equal opportunity officer at NC State’s Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity (OIED), explained the implications of the letter and how Title IX functions on a day-to-day basis.
“The Dear Colleague letter outlined a national call for action because of statistics regarding sexual assault on college campuses,” Johnson said. “Research was being done; people were seeing things, like one in five women were victims of completed or attempted sexual assaults on college campuses.”
Later, during the Obama administration, the law was clarified further and some structural guidelines were established, according to Johnson.
“First, all schools are going to designate a Title IX coordinator, somebody who is in charge of all things Title IX at your university,” Johnson said. “The next thing is that once a school knows or reasonably should know of possible sexual assault on campus, they must take immediate and appropriate action to investigate the situation. If sexual violence has occurred, they must take prompt and immediate steps to end the sexual violence, prevent the recurrence and prevent its effects.”
The law covers a wide variety of forms of sexual harassment, including sexual violence, sexual exploitation and stalking. Ultimately, the most important factor to consider is consent, according to Johnson.
Johnson also pointed out supplementary parts of the legislature, like no-contact orders, which require two parties affected by a Title IX report to avoid all forms of interaction. Additionally, he mentioned that the law covers the issue of potential retaliation, so if a victim of harassment was treated unfairly by a party as a result of filing a report, the law would offer protection.
Filing a Title IX complaint begins at the OIED, where the primary task is to gather information, Johnson explained. Even then, while a report can be filed, whether the university officially takes action is up to the survivor.
“Unless there is a danger to the campus, we won’t proceed without a student wanting to file a formal complaint,” Johnson said. “The options are kind of this: We know about something, somebody comes to talk to us, the first thing we’re going to look at is ‘is this a case?’”
If a report completed by the OIED gets approved by the survivor, it then goes to NC State’s Office of Student Conduct, according to Johnson.
“I put together a report, and that report goes to Student Conduct, then Student Conduct determines if they’re going to charge anybody with anything,” Johnson said. “So, just because we do an investigation doesn’t mean anybody’s been charged; we’re just gathering information.”
Student Conduct will then call upon the accused party, also known as the respondent, and the survivor to talk about what happened. Jessica White, associate director of the Office of Student Conduct, explained that her office will review the report and decide whether to issue a charge, which is a submitted allegation.
“We’re determining whether there’s sufficient information to issue a charge,” White said. “A charge is different from a violation.”
White explained that from that point, it moves on to a hearing process, which is often formatted as a discussion. During a hearing, the OIED may present their report findings, Johnson said.
“Our hearings are held in a conference-style room, so it doesn’t look like a courtroom at all,” White said. “I would compare it more to kind of a round-table conversation, in which it’s an exchange of information.”
Thomas Hardiman, director of the Office of Student Conduct, determines how to proceed from the given information, Johnson explained.
“He will hear the case, ask questions that are appropriate,” Johnson said. “Individuals have the right to ask questions, if necessary, [in the] least traumatic method possible, and he will determine if there was a violation of Student Conduct policy or not, and then decide what does that mean, and what sanctions will occur because of that.”
Once the hearing is over, White and others at Student Conduct analyze the information gathered and determine whether a university policy violation occurred.
“It’s really going to depend on the totality of the information, both in that investigative summary report and any clarifying information that is generated during that administrative hearing,” White said. “We’re going to take a look at the alleged student behaviors that occurred and … determine whether or not that rises to the level of a university policy violation.”
Further information on Student Conduct’s policies can be found online. Additionally, the OIED website has informative resources and provides students with a place to report harassment.
