WHERE IS TITLE IX?
I chose to report my assault through Title IX because of the anonymous reporting, the lack of public record, and my family’s preference. It was the best option I had to protect myself while appeasing others. Additionally, my own parents said if I chose to pursue charges in public court with the NYPD, I would be pulled from my university, not be allowed to attend college anywhere, and kicked out of my own home. My mom continuously sent me links titled “Why it’s better for Christian women to not speak out and instead forgive their rapist,” my sister stopped speaking to me. They said they were doing all of this to protect me after seeing the results of the infamous “Mattress Case,” but my abuser continued to text me multiple times a day for almost a month afterwards. It was a daily reminder. Although the system is completely flawed and not catered to survivors, it was the best and only option I had to get my attacker away from me and protect myself.
One of my biggest issues with Title IX is the fact that it presents itself as something “survivor friendly.” It is an administration full of lawyers or paralegals trying to protect the public reputation of the university. They try to paint the situation like they are here to protect you and hear you, but constantly dismiss any concerns you have. I had multiple violations of the No Contact Directive, and I’m almost certain he was not punished or found guilty for any of these. If he was, I was not notified. These violations included:
Texting in a group chat that had not been used since 10 months prior
Having mutual friends from high school conveniently text me “how are you” seconds after a Title IX update
Not leaving public places where I am present after STRICT and WRITTEN instructions in the NCD to do so
When this happened one time, he said to a Public Safety Officer “I’m not leaving and if she wants me gone, she needs to call the NYPD” or claiming ignorance “I did not see her” after staring at me the whole time or pushing/shoving my friends
Going to where I was in outdoor spaces and hiding in bushes, covering himself with his backpack- running away or hiding from me
Continuing to enter specific buildings and dorms he was banned from (due to my case against him)
When my rapist was suspended for a case unrelated to mine, I was initially notified of his suspension at the beginning of the year. You can believe my surprise when I saw him on campus not two weeks later. When I expressed my concern they said it was a different case that did not concern me. It was practically dismissive of me. My case took over a year (instead of the allocated 6-9-month period) due to people constantly resigning and other people getting hired.
Evidence used in my case includes him saying he owned me like property, “If I said come over here and fuck me you’d be here in 10 minutes with a full face of makeup, hair curled, and your best dress on.” Besides this, there was physical proof in my mental health and damage done to myself, him, and the room. Title IX harbors and protects abusers by being an “educational system.” Therefore, even with all of this evidence, the respondent was only suspended for two years. This was a consistent ruling with previous cases of sexual assault with penetration, or rape. He could not be expelled or have criminal charges be brought against him due to the “educational environment” of Title IX. He was supposed to take this suspension to “learn, heal, and reflect.” The case ended April 1st, 2020. The suspension commenced Jan. 1st, 2020 and they “wiped the ongoing semester from his record.” One of the worst parts was, he was able to appeal the guilty verdict 3 times on no grounds other than “I do not like it.” He literally quoted his former football coach saying the punishment was “too excessive than what the coach normally saw for his players.” His entire statement as to why he appealed and his evidence was just a personal trauma. He said nothing besides “read the report and try to see it from my eyes.” He stated no facts to prove his case other than “I did not do it and two years is too long.” He literally compared himself to the main character is The Scarlett Letter when talking about the personal trauma he experienced. He said he booked an appointment with Columbia Psychological Services but never went because he was “too proud.” There was no remorse for what he did to me, no remorse in losing the trust of a lifelong friend, absolutely nothing about causing pain and lifelong trauma to another human being, and no efforts taken to remedy the situation. In the closing statements from the Deans, they stated that he showed more remorse for his termination as a college athlete than he did for raping me. He victimized himself, called him out for blatantly refusing to show remorse and for being a pathological manipulator. They chose to let him graduate and represent the university. They begged him to show remorse on several occasions to lessen his sentence, and each time he refused. He said, and I quote “I have been asked several times to show more compassion to [Complainant] in order to reduce the severity of my sentence. I will not show remorse for something I did not do.” What a martyr. The University is allowing a dangerous individual to return and hurt other women. What makes it worse is that he is too egotistical and too much a of a narcissist to understand why he is suspended until Spring 2022.
When I found out he was only suspended I was enraged. My attorney adviser agreed that it was entirely a cop out from the Dean. I asked to meet with the director of my case to understand the punishment more. The explanation she gave me was that Title IX is educational. It is meant to help the respondent to learn the severity of what they did, but also hoping to rehabilitate them back into society. Essentially, the office wants each similar case to have similar outcomes. Therefore, if a case of sexual assault with penetration (that involved no drugs to coerce violence) resulted in a two-year suspension in 2010, each consecutive case will end the same. They see this as the fairest option. I still do not understand how the individual who raped me can enter society when he is not willing to accept what he’s done, let alone learn from it. Despite all of those sentiments, he is still returning to hurt more women.
The system for Title IX is clearly broken. My rapist will graduate from an Ivy League with two years vacation and a note at the bottom of his transcript. Practically a slap on the wrist. He will eventually be hired by one of the thousands of employers who don’t care about his “past,” and what he did to me will fade away. It will never leave me. As horrible as this system is, it is even worse under the new rules enacted by Betsy Devos. Rapists and abusive boyfriends have the potential to cross-examine a complainant, like a witness on the stand. Title IX provides an alternative to public trail and layers of protection for the witnesses. Under the new legislation, that vanishes. Rape and sexual assault in houses is no longer the school’s priority, which takes away over 1/3 of cases in the system right now. My case took over the nine months limit, but the new legislation removes the limit entirely. Complainants can graduate and their cases can be forgotten. Similarly, schools are only required to act in a timely manner if it is a repeated offense, which would dismiss my case above entirely. Additionally, the standard for evidence has been increased, so my evidence above is useless. My case was extremely clear cut. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind what happened. It frightens me to death to think there is a chance that if this happened in the future, I would go completely unheard.
by Caroline Caldwell