action as deliberate indifference: sexual assault at occidental college by rachel baer
DESCRIPTION
"One in four women will be sexually assaulted during her college career. Sexual assault and rape effect victims and survivors in a number of detrimental ways. The victims’ and survivors’ academic and social lives are often torn apart, creating a disparity between their lives and the lives of others on campus. Title IX, part of the Education Amendments of 1972, protects women against sex-based discrimination and harassment in academia. Rape and sexual assault are considered extreme forms of harassment under Title IX. The law mandates that schools, including colleges and universities, follow guidelines set by the Office of Civil Rights to prevent and remedy inequities caused by sexual assault. I posit that Occidental College violates Title IX by acting with deliberate indifference in regards to sexual assault and rape. To determine whether my hypothesis is correct, I measured students’ attitudes of sexual assault on campus using a campus-wide blog. I paired the qualitative analysis of the blog with quantitative analysis using a survey of survivors and victims at Occidental. After the analyses, I concluded that Occidental administration violates Title IX through deliberate indifference and because of incomplete compliance with the Dear Colleague Letter by the Office of Civil Rights."TRANSCRIPT
Sexual Assault at Occidental College
Rachel Baer
The presentation discusses sexual assault and rape. It may contain triggers.
99% of rapists are men, but not all men are rapists.
Research methods
Sexual assault at college
Oxy data
Title IX and OCR’s Dear Colleague letter
Literature review
Content analysis of DearOxy Tumblr› Measured hope, anger, hurt,
disappointment› Content analysis showed which specific
terms concerned users most
Oxy survey
Circumstantial information› School size & student trust
Emotional/physical effects› PTSD
Academic effects
“virtually all victims of rape are affected, regardless of the circumstances surrounding the act”(1)
90% of college victims/survivors knew their assailant before the assault
Highest probability for assault: first week of college
Reminders of the assault/rape abound (will discuss later as stimuli)
For every additional 10,000 undergrads, the odds of sexual assault decrease by HALF
Oxy has ~2,100 students
Smaller student body = more trust› Most assaults occur in “normal” situations› False sense of security
Underreporting› Phenomenon in which most
victims/survivors do not report› Common reasons include:
Reprisal from assailant or assailant’s friends Social isolation
These reasons are only exacerbated at small schools (Oxy)
Fears of specific stimuli (experienced by victims of any/all assault circumstances)› Being alone, drunk people› Dead people, suffocation, weapons
Shows rape is the implicit threat of death
Fears of situation-specific stimuli› Location & other aspects of the assault
Embarrassment, shame, etc.
Almost constant fear from stimuli PTSD
PTSD symptoms› Shame & despair› Impulsive behavior› Flashbacks› Hyper-alert
At least 43% of college SA/rape victims have PTSD› Higher than victims of other violent crimes
Impaired social and work life
Lower GPA
Transfer rates same as non-victims
Common coping technique: avoid perp› Classes› Social scene (parties)› Extra-curricular activities› Marketplace, Cooler, etc.
Remember the emotional and academic effects of sexual assault
Survey aimed to show how these effects appear at Oxy
55 survivors completed surveys in 12 days
Victim year at time of assault:
Perpetrator year at time of assault:
Relationship between Survivor/Victim & Perp.at the time of the assault
64.7% of friend-rape victims said the assault deeply affected them and caused them emotional pain
41 out of 49 survey respondents knew the perp. prior to assault
“Other” locations include cars, dances, etc.
31% of participants raped at off-campus houses
5 occurred at Greek houses› 3 at SAE
4 occurred at athletic team houses› 3 at ATO
Responses covered past 4 years› SAE became a dry house during this time
First year› Highest incident count in Stewie (strong
community)
Older student› Highest incident count in Haines, RV
(isolated feel), and Stearns (isolated feel)
6 perpetrators took the victims home to take care of them› Violation of trust
Three year live-on rule increases concentration of students in dorms
Lack of bystanders› RA training does not include SA/rape
prevention or bystander intervention
12.5% feared social consequences 17% respondents unacknowledged
DearOxy: “Having watched friends go through your system, and their rapists walk away with little or no consequence, I didn’t feel safe reporting mine.”
Most decisions favored survivor/victim
All descriptions of process were negative› “an utter lack of professionalism and
compassion”
High-profile administrators
Lack of training› No adjudicator finished all 8 NCHERM trainings
Zero participants ranked adjudicators as “competent,” “caring,” “fair,” or “trained and knowledgeable”
41% felt inadequate when in class and doing homework› Only 9 stated their GPAs dropped› 48% reported no change
100% involved with 1+ club 67% reported no change in extra-
curricular activities post assault Conclusion: Oxy students are the best
and faculty are supportive.
Of participants assaulted their first year:› 42.9% reported current anxiety› 25.7% reported current low self-esteem› 37.1% reported current distrust
33 of 55 survivors assaulted their first year› Only 2 survey participants current first
years› Shows pervasive effects of assault
1. Federal fundingOccidental receives federal funding.
2. Sexual harassment occurred (rape & sexual assault automatically qualify)
At least 55 cases apply.
3. Appropriate persons knew about the harassment and did not respond reasonably
No known investigation of ATO or SAE
4. Institution responded with deliberate indifference
Continual use of ineffective methods
5. Harassment = “severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive”
Continual emotional effects of friend/acquaintance rape
6. Concrete, negative effects on education OR the assault created a “disparately hostile” educational environment
9 reported GPA drops AND rapists remaining on campus
Oxy complied with all requirements except:
› Grievance procedures are not available throughout campus
› Incomplete NCHERM training› Specific timeline available only for
appeals process› “Guaranteed” protection against
retaliation without actual protection No system for reporting further problems
with perp.
Legally (S.S. standard): YES
OCR (Dear Colleague): YES
Bystander training› Should be required at beginning of each
semester for all students
POV (etc) training for adjudicators
Build on the trust that already exists› Care for each other!