Due Process and Unintended Consequences: Contradictions Between Campus Sexual Assault Support Services Create Barriers for Service Delivery

ABSTRACT

Changes in Title IX policy feature questions about due process and procedures, however campus response to sexual violence includes a wide array of support professionals each with their own guiding principle, or institutional logic. Building on prior research identifying contradictions between service professionals and the theory of institutional logics, this study draws on a thematic analysis of qualitative interviews with service professionals from two universities to further examine the root of these contradictions that restrict vital services to student victims. Findings highlight how the Title IX logic of due process operates as a limit on confidentiality becoming a harmful contradiction to other units’ logics. Strategies to resolve contradictory logics that limit service provision for students through Title IX policy are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Campus sexual assault
• Title IX
• due process
• help seeking

Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Larry J. Siegel Graduate Fellowship for the Study of Gender and Crime from American Society of Criminology’s Division of Women and Crime.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical statement

The author confirms that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States and received approval from the Institutional ReviewBoard of the University of Kentucky.

Notes

1. Throughout this paper I will use the terms victim and survivor interchangeably, particularly depending on the context of the professionals I am referring to. Advocates were the main professionals to switch their language to survivor instead of victim.

2. The Jeanne Clery Act (1990) requires schools to publicly report crime on their campus and the policies in place to protect students.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Larry J. Siegel Graduate Fellowship for the Study of Gender and Crime from American Society of Criminology’s Division of Women and Crime.

Notes on contributors

Kathleen Ratajczak

Kathleen Ratajczak is an Assistant Professor at Sam Houston State University in the Victim Studies Department. She has a PhD in Sociology and a master’s degree in Gender Studies. Her research focuses on sexual violence, help-seeking, and the impacts of policies.