Discussion List for campus-based and allied personnel working to end gender-based violence on campus.

["Berteau, Lorree K" <>]

Alina,

 

Myself and our other Victim-Survivor Advocate here at the institute handle the situation in whatever way the survivor feels most comfortable. Your message reads to me that the people raising concerns may be people who have a hand in Title IX/Clery reporting, and would like to see some actual recorded reports made in real-time, as well as some Title IX compliance in making the campus community as a whole more safe. While I of course would like to see perpetrators held accountable for their actions as well, so they don’t do the same thing to other students, we as advocates are more concerned with what would make the survivor/student feel most comfortable and safe in their specific situation.

A lot of the time, reporting and moving further in the process of judicial hearings would compromise the safety of the survivor in the sense of retaliation and/or more threats and actions from the perpetrator. Your (and others on campus) concern that there are so many requests for no action are completely valid, but the concern from the students of what would happen to them if they go through a formal process is probably the main reason for their reluctance to move forward. Being completely honest, students pick up on their school’s handling of cases like this and the campus climate around survivor support, and for many campuses and in students’ eyes, that support is not there. Many cases that do go forward, as you’ve probably seen, do not turn out in favor of the survivor, or if the actual ‘ruling’ does turn out in their favor to support their claims, usually nothing serious happens to the accused- such as a person simply being put on probation or suspended for a semester (and even that is unlikely). So for many students, they feel like “what’s the point”?

What I’m trying to say is that it has a lot to do with the overall campus climate and the school’s policies for these situations. This is a more long term solution, but I think looking at your school’s polices, and how cases have been handled in the past will give you a much better idea of some of the underlying issues at play.

Myself and the other advocate have formed a system where we go case-by-case in how we handle and report them. A lot of survivors come forward well after the incident has occurred and they’re just looking for support. In such cases, we don’t need to immediately report for Clery purposes because it does not meet the requirements of “an on-going threat to the community”, although some would argue it would because the perpetrator is still on campus and could do it to someone else. We would of course include it in our reports for the ASR. In our eyes, it is not the responsibility of the victim to hold that perpetrator accountable if they do not wish to do so. It’s a complicated navigation, but ultimately, school’s need to support survivors in any way they can, and give the power back to them in how these cases move forward. In the long run, that will produce a more survivor-centered approach that students will pick up on, and will probably lead to more formal reporting on its own. This is what we have seen at Georgia Tech- we reformed our policies to be much more survivor supportive, and as a result, have had a steady increase in reports and cases going through the OSI process.

Sorry for the long response, I just think this issue is a lot bigger than students reporting or not, as if it’s all on the individual level. I hope this helps a little!

 

 

Katy Berteau, MA

Victim-Survivor Advocate

 

Health Promotion

Georgia Institute of Technology

Joseph B. Whitehead Building

740 Ferst Drive, Atlanta, GA 30322

Health Promotion Suite, Room 232A

(404) 385-4451

http://healthpromotion.gatech.edu/

 

VOICE​ is Georgia Tech's Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Initiative.

 

 

 

 

From: Torres-Zickler, Alina M. [mailto:]
Sent: Tuesday, September 22, 2015 9:35 AM
To:
Subject: Working with wishes to not take judicial action

 

Would love some insight into a conversation that I’ve had with professionals at my own institution and others nearby recently-

 

How do you deal with taking no judicial action when working with survivors?

 

We have had a growing number of survivors who have been involved with a range of situations (for example dating violence and sexual harassment), that wish for nothing to happen expect maybe one or two interim measures. We of course comply with the interim measures they need to be safe and continue to be part of the community but there are additional voices who are concerned.

 

We are seeing no patterns related to the perpetrators and the actors pose no risk to the greater campus community.  But certain campus partners feel we should have judicial hearings anyway to protect the survivor.

 

The way I interpret the guidance is if the survivor requests that nothing happen and there is no risk to the greater community – nothing happens. I think because we are having so many requests for no action, it is making some people feel uneasy.

 

Would love any thoughts that others have on this or how you handle requests for no action.

 

Alina Torres-Zickler

Assistant Director

Office of Social Equity

West Chester University

Ph. 610.436.2838

Email:

 

Be kind, for everyone is fighting their own quiet battle. - Cicero