Running Head: ADDRESSING TITLE IX ISSUES ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES
Addressing Title IX Issues on College Campuses
Melissa Corts
Teachers College, Columbia University
Student Personnel Administration: Programs and Services
Dr. Corlisse Thomas
ADDRESSING TITLE IX ISSUES ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES
According to a study conducted through the US Department of Justice (2005), collegeage femalesroughly 18 to 21 years of ageare four times as likely to be sexually assaulted
than any other age group. Women within this age group who are actually enrolled in college are
at an even greater risk than their non-college bound peers. In fact, the Center for Disease Control
(2012) reports that roughly 20 to 25 percent of college-age womenand 4 percent of college-age
menadmit to having been sexually assaulted throughout their time at college. Whats more
startling is that almost 90 percent of the victims say that they had known their attacker prior to
the incident; because of this less than 5 percent of completed or attempted rapes of college
students are reported (Gonzales, Schofield, & Schmitt, 2005). Students reason with themselves
that since they knew the person then it could not be considered rape, and by not reporting the
incident they are forced to deal with the aftereffects on their own and allow the aggressor to go
unpunished (AAUP, 2012). This paper will discuss the growth of sexual harassment on college
campuses, how federal policy was created to try to deal with this issue within the institutions,
and how student affairs professionals are responded to all of this on their college campuses.
Since the creation of residential colleges, faculty and staff have had to deal with the
repercussions that arise when students engage in risky behavior (Welkener, 2011). Just as
students and cultures continually change over time, educators have been forced to make the
necessary adjustments in order to properly respond to the high-risk behavior of these students. In
other words, every time students present a new or evolving risk-type on campuses, the
universities create some sort of service or office that works to minimize the negative outcomes.
Colleges and universities will also create disciplinary boards that deliver judicial sanctions when
the students behavior breaks the law or the institutions code of conduct (Welkener, 2011). For
example, residential life, health and wellness, and drug and alcohol offices will address alcohol
ADDRESSING TITLE IX ISSUES ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES
related situations. Ideally, campuses would also have womens centers, public safety, and/or
health services prepared to confront issues of sexual assault. However, up until fairly recently,
there was not much of a conversation surrounding this topic.
Originally, the administration of American universities operated under the assumption
that colleges should be acting in place of the parents, en loco parentis, and that they had the
authority to do so. However, over time the faculty began to focus more on their academic
pursuits and the responsibility was left to the students affairs practitioners. These administrators
became responsible for risk management, safety, student discipline, overall development,
community life, conflict resolution, and other important aspects of life on campuses (Welkener,
2011). Again, over the course of time, administration began to shift towards a model of allowing
the students to play the lead role in their learning and, thus, transferred the responsibility of selfregulation to the students (Welkener, 2011).
With the statistics previously described, it seems obvious that young adults are having
difficulty in the realm of sexual conduct. For this reason, there has been a fairly recent need for
student affairs professionals to step back into their management roles, both in a proactive manner
and as a response, to address the issues of sexual assault on college campuses.
In April of 2011, the U.S. Department of Educations Office for Civil Rights (OCR)
sent out a Dear Colleague letter to all of the institutions that it oversaw, addressing sexual
violence in educational programs and activities. The Letter was OCRs first publication focusing
primarily on instances of student-against-students rape and sexual assault in school settings
(Gonzales et al., 2005); among other innovations, it lays out specific procedures educators must
now follow in investigating and resolving these issues on campus. For this reason it has become
ADDRESSING TITLE IX ISSUES ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES
one of the most significant developments in the current body of law governing claims of sexual
violence on college campuses (Henrick, 2013).
The Letter acted as the latest interpretations of Title IX of the Educational Amendments
of 1972. Title IX states that 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. As the wording suggests,
Title IX was not originally designed to resolve claims of sexual violence on college campuses;
nothing in its legislative history and first seven years of existence suggested intent to reach
claims of sexual misconduct in any setting (Henrick, 2013). In 1979, Catharine Mackinnon
published a book arguing that sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination, which
resulted in major shifts in thinking. Over the next thirteen years, OCR issued administrative
guidance prohibiting school employees from sexually harassing students and the Supreme Court
expanded Title IXs private right of action to allow suits for money damages in teacher-tostudent harassment cases (AAUP, 2012). By 2000, both OCR and the Supreme Court had also
expanded Title IXs harassment prohibition to include cases of student-to-student conduct in
higher education setting (OCR, 2011).
Sexual harassment under Title IX is unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature, and the
behavior must be serious enough to impact the victims access to educational opportunities by
creating a hostile environment. The definition encompasses a wide range of including
unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal, nonverbal, or physical
conduct of a sexual nature such as posting sexual materials in classrooms. At its most extreme,
sexual harassment also encompasses allegations of sexual violence between students. A claim
that a student suffered a rape, sexual assault or sexual battery at the hands of a classmate would
ADDRESSING TITLE IX ISSUES ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES
qualify as unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature, (Henrick, 2013). Under Title IX, schools are
required to conduct a prompt, thorough, and impartial investigation into any allegation of rape
or sexual assault reported on campus. If the school finds that harassment occurred, administrators
must stop the behavior, prevent its recurrence, and remedy the impact that the incident has had
on the victim (including disciplining the accused) (OCR, 2011). Title IX has a dual enforcement
structure: someone who claims to have been a victim of sex discrimination, i.e., a complainant,
can both sue his or her educational institution directly in civil court and also file a complaint with
OCR, a federal executive agency with the power to terminate the federal funding of any
institution that violates the statute.
While Title IX prohibits the sexual harassment of college and university students, that
does not mean that it does not occur; and, as mentioned, when it happens it affects the students
educational opportunities and creates a hostile environment for the survivor to live in. It has
become the responsibility of student affairs professionals to address these issues, but how is it
that they hope to achieve the intended results? Guidance from the OCR Letter has required
colleges and universities to take three initial steps on campus: (1) to define what sex
discrimination is on campus and publish policies stating that the school does not discriminate on
the basis of sex, nor will it be tolerated; (2) they must have and distribute material outlining the
procedure for students to file a complaint when sexual harassment, in any capacity, takes place;
and (3) institutions must appoint a Title IX coordinator to oversee these activities, review
complaints, and place programming in effect to continuously deal with these issues (OCR, 2011).
Also, under the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics
Act colleges and universities must notify the students when crimes on campus occur, publicize
their prevention and response plans and policies, publish the institutions crime statistics, and
ADDRESSING TITLE IX ISSUES ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES
advise the victims of their rights when such situations have occurred (Fisher, Hartman, Cullen, &
Turner, 2002).
In 2013, Congress got involved in the conversation by reauthorizing the Violence Against
Women Act by including provisions to improve campus safety. Colleges and universities now
had to report the number of domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking incidents that occur
on campus every year in addition to the longstanding requirement to disclose sexual assault
incidents, along with other crimes. They will also have to update their annual security reports to
include the institutions programs (available to all students and employees) to prevent dating
violence, domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. In addition, students will now be
provided with clear options and support when they report an incident of dating violence,
domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking (Leahy, 2013). These new requirements are in
addition to the obligations already set for colleges and universities under Title IX and the Clery
Act. But the call to action goes beyond Congress, just this year President Obama established a
White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault, led by Vice President Biden.
The groups purpose is to strengthen federal enforcement efforts and provide schools with
additional tools to help combat sexual assault on their campuses, (Obama, 2014). The Task
Force (2014) issued their first report in April, in it they explained to sexual assault victims that
they are not alone and that the group was formed in order to help the colleges and universities
fulfill their obligations to protect the students from these crimes in the future.
By this point, sexual assault on college campuses had become a national conversation and
it was now the responsibility of institutions of higher education to confront the situation. So,
what have colleges and universities been doing to address the issue of sexual assault? A study
conducted by Karjane, Fisher, and Cullen (2005) attempted to answer this question. The
ADDRESSING TITLE IX ISSUES ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES
researchers studied a random sample of schools in the United States and Puerto Rico that receive
student financial aid from the Federal Government. Almost 2,500 schools were examined to
determine their sexual assault policies, and campus administrators were asked about the issues
mandated by Federal law for study. Federal law (the Clery Act of 1990 and the Campus Sexual
Assault Victims' Bill of Rights of 1992) requires that schools annually disclose information about
crime on campus, including specific sexual crime categories, and develop prevention policies.
This study found that schools are complying with Federal law unevenly. Overall, 4-year and
historically Black institutions were doing better than other schools in complying with Federal
law regarding campus crime and sexual assault in particular. Although most schools comply with
the requirement to report crime data, only about one-third do so in a way that fully complies with
Federal laws (Gonzales et al., 2005). Anonymous reporting, which encourages victims to come
forward, is an option at only half of the Nation's schools. Schools also provided resources for
victims unevenly; fewer than half the schools informed the students on how to file criminal
charges (Gonzales et al., 2005). This report proved that there was area for growth and
development of policies and programming on college campuses.
A later study, done by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2014), shows how
far college campuses have come in addressing this issue on their campuses. The CDC supports
the Rape Prevention and Education (RPE) program as its major initiative towards preventing
efforts of sexual violence at the national, state, and local levels. Colleges and universities have
the ability to participate with the RPE and receive funding from them in order to facilitate sexual
violence prevention efforts. Over 125 campuses across 24 states and one territory either
indirectly receive RPE funding for these efforts or are in some way affiliated with the RPE
program in their state (CDC, 2014). These institutions include public (e.g., state and community)
ADDRESSING TITLE IX ISSUES ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES
and private colleges and universities across the U.S. with each geographic region represented
(CDC, 2014).
According to the report (2014), the majority of campuses implement social media
campaigns as a prevention strategy designed to raise awareness and attempt to alter the social
norms related to sexual violence. Some examples of the campaigns implemented include the Red
Flag Campaign, the White Ribbon Campaign, and Walk a Mile in Her Shoes. The second most
common strategy being put into effect are bystander trainings and interventions (CDC, 2014).
The most commonly used programs among the RPE funded or facilitated campus-based efforts
are Green Dot and Bringing in the Bystander. Through the bystander programs, students, resident
assistants, faculty, staff, fraternities, sororities, and athletes are targeted in order to invite them to
training sessions and ask them to join the efforts of ridding this violence on campus. Third,
campus-based programming of educational sessions, presentations, or courses continues despite
the lack of demonstrated effects of these activities on risk factors or behavior (CDC, 2014).
These activities often target specific student groups that may be at higher risk for sexual violence
victimization and perpetration, such as incoming freshmen and athletes (Tharp et al., 2011).
These types of sessions are most commonly associated with first year programming, such as new
students orientation, in order to convey the message as early as possible. Lastly, it is important to
note that some college and university campuses are looking to adapt and implement strategies
that have been shown to be effective in other populations, such as the middle school-based
program SafeDates (Foshee et al.,1996). Since institutions have the capacity to evaluate their
sexual violence prevention strategies and conduct sexual violence researchthanks to the
numerous faculty who have sexual violence research expertisefaculty are also working with
ADDRESSING TITLE IX ISSUES ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES
RPE coordinators to develop sexual violence-related materials and evaluate sexual violence
strategies (CDC, 2014).
The Department of Justices Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) also funds
campus prevention programming; OVW administers grant programs authorized by the Violence
Against Women Act of 1994. These grant programs help to reduce domestic violence, dating
violence, sexual assault, and stalking by strengthening services to victims and holding offenders
accountable for their actions (CDC, 2014). OVWs Grants to Reduce Sexual Assault, Domestic
Violence, Dating Violence, and Stalking on Campus Program funds are often used by grantees to
establish or supplement prevention programs (Tharp et al., 2011). The OVW Campus Program
strengthens on-campus victim services, advocacy, security and investigation, by improving both
prosecution and prevention of the attacks reported. The college and university granted funds
through the Campus Program must: (1) provide prevention programs for all incoming students;
(2) train campus law enforcement and security staff; (3) educate campus disciplinary boards on
the dynamics of these crimes; and (4) create a community response program used to enhance
victim assistance and safety while holding offenders accountable (CDC, 2014). Since 1999,
OVW has funded approximately 388 projects, totaling more than $139 million, for grantees
addressing domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking on campuses (CDC,
2014). OVW is particularly interested in supporting projects submitted by: Historically Black
Colleges and Universities; Tribal Colleges and Universities; Universities and Colleges that serve
primarily Latino or Hispanic populations; and Universities and Colleges based in the five U.S.
territories (CDC, 2014). The ultimate objective of the Campus Program is to help colleges and
universities create effective, comprehensive responses to these issues on campus. Since 2012,
OVW has also required that all grantees include evidence-informed bystander prevention
ADDRESSING TITLE IX ISSUES ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES
10
programming in their initiatives, and now requires all grantees to develop both targeted and
universal prevention strategies; to help campuses accomplish this, OVW has provided assistance
through a cooperative agreement with Green Dot, Inc (Coker, Fisher, Bush, Clear, Williams,
Swan & DeGue, 2011). OVW grantees also report that they are exploring online prevention
curricula, such as Haven, Campus Clarity, Unless There is Consent, and Every Choice.
To see how these programs work, one study went on to investigate the level of impact the
Green Dot program had in reducing sexual violence on College Campuses. Using a crosssectional survey of a random sample of 7,945 college undergraduates, the findings comment on
the association between having received Green Dot active bystander behavior training and the
frequency of actual and observed self-reported active bystander behaviors as well as violence
acceptance norms. Of 2,504 students aged 18 to 26 who completed the survey, 46% said that
they had heard a Green Dot speech on campus, and 14% said that they had received active
bystander training during the past 2 years (Coker et al., 2011). Of the population tested, the
trained students had significantly lower rape myth acceptance scores than did students with no
training. Trained students also reported engaging in significantly more bystander behaviors and
observing more self-reported active bystander behaviors when compared with non-trained
students. When comparing self-reported active bystander behavior scores of students trained with
students hearing a Green Dot speech alone, the training was associated with significantly higher
levels of student engaging in active bystander behavior. Those receiving bystander training
appeared to report more active bystander behaviors than those simply hearing a Green Dot
speech, and both intervention groups reported more observed and active bystander behaviors
than non-exposed students (Coker et al., 2011). In other words, just by talking to the students on
ADDRESSING TITLE IX ISSUES ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES
11
campus and making them aware of the situations at hand, students are willing to not only support
the cause but also to try and deter this negative behavior among their peers.
One college that has been a great example of enforcing these programs on campus is
Dartmouth. The college has opened the discussion up to their students and even created a
webpage solely dedicated to what sexual assault is and how the administration is confronting the
issue. The institution has three main ways that they are fighting the issue: (1) strengthening the
sexual assault policy in place on campus; (2) provoking community action through the
Dartmouth Bystander Initiative; and (3) even opening up the conversation to those outside of the
community through the Dartmouth Summit on Sexual Assaultto which they had roughly 300
participants this year, coming from over 60 different colleges and universities, national experts in
the field, officials from the White House and members of the U.S. Department of Justice and the
Department of Education (Dartmouth, 2014). Their site also displays information regarding the
resources available to their students and the procedures for responding to sexual misconduct on
campus if need be.
Overall, reporting shows that college campuses are engaged in a wide variety of
prevention strategies, running the gamut of bystander intervention, engaging men, healthy sex
education, and public awareness, of which many tend to overlap over several categories. Many
of these programs seem to be effective or at least promising, but need to be evaluated further.
Sexual assault issues are still very present on college campuses today, and while institution of
higher education are attempting to address the issue, the events are not being completely
eliminated. Public awareness represents the majority of prevention efforts, which range from
handing out pamphlets to more extensive, mandatory training programs. Many campuses have
chapters of national prevention campaigns or programs such as Green Dot, Men Against Rape,
ADDRESSING TITLE IX ISSUES ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES
12
and the White Ribbon Campaign. However, many have also developed, and continue to look
into, independent school-specific or customized campaigns and programs for their campuses.
The large number of public awareness campaigns and prevention programming signals that the
student affairs have caught up to the conversation and are placing all their efforts into addressing
the issue, however, the fact that these events are still happening speaks to the level of difficulty
that higher education professionals are encountering in their efforts. There very well may be a
long uphill battle ahead, but at the very least students are now aware that there are support
systems and programming in place on their campuses if they are needed in the meantime.
ADDRESSING TITLE IX ISSUES ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES
13
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