Staff editorial: Fixing Title IX will require more than empathy from administration

Two months ago, Washington University’s Title IX Office announced its findings from the previous semester’s listening sessions. The reporting system was made simpler, faculty and staff were given additional training and the University began more aggressively advertising the resources on campus.

Sure, op-eds published in Student Life last spring revealed massive flaws in the school’s Title IX procedure—and the announcement of three federal Title IX investigations into the school over the summer added insult to injury—but the University was working on it. Things were supposed to be getting fixed.

Then, Monday, another op-ed was published in Student Life, making it abundantly clear that things were not fixed. In it, the anonymous writer details how the University’s various mechanisms for preventing sexual violence—Title IX, Washington University Police Department, Student Health Services (SHS), the Office of Residential Life—allowed a serial offender to essentially slip through the cracks.

The response on campus has been tremendous, and students have planned a mass rally in support for significant changes in the Title IX process at the school. And in response to these demands, we believe University administrators are have to make concrete and tangible alterations to address these structural failings.

One of the most arresting responses to the op-ed, however, came from an administrator. In her own submission, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Lori White for the first time publicly disclosed her own story as the survivor of a sexual assault. This was a tremendously courageous decision for White to make, both professionally and personally. It is difficult and intensely personal for any survivor to tell their story, and we admire White for doing so.

We have never doubted White, or any administrator for that matter, in their capacity as human beings. In fact, we think that the people who work for this school are good, empathetic people who believe that they are working in the best interests of the student body.

What the stories of sexual assault on campus reveal is not that Wash. U. administrators are bad people, but that the system in which they work is failing. Because as wonderful as it is to have the empathy of the administrators as people, what the student body really needs is empathy through their actions as administrators.

The issue requires the people in the highest positions of power at this University to use that power, act in their capacity as administrators and begin implementing serious structural changes to the Title IX system.

The first thing that we need is for the administration to simply attend these protests. The Title IX listening sessions were grossly under-attended, and as disappointed as higher-ups may be about the lack of attendance, the movement represents a real chance to hear from a huge amount of students. People will be sharing their stories, and asking for changes. Listen.

It is also important to remember that was not just Title IX that failed the student in the most recent op-ed. WUPD, Residential Life and SHS also proved to be insufficient. Even a perfectly efficient Title IX process may not be a large enough change.

Any kind of serious change that will seriously begin to help the survivors who have been so underserved thus far will require everyone involved in Title IX proceedings to help make it possible.

Finally, even though he technically is not involved in any Title IX processes, this will have to include at the very least some kind of acknowledgement from Chancellor Mark Wrighton, given that he has found the time to release statements on the election of President Donald Trump, DACA, the Charlottesville protests and firearms in the Phi Delta Theta house.

The kind of change that is required in the University’s institutions is sweeping, and it will need to come from the top down. A statement from the chancellor would be an indication that the most powerful people in the institution are serious about making those changes.

The structures in place to prevent sexual assault on campus are not working. There are people within those structures who we believe do earnestly care about addressing that problem—and that means that it falls to them to fundamentally fix these structures.

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