Title IX. What Parents Need to Know

kelsmom
Thu, 28 Jan 2016 18:47:41 +0000

This is a very difficult subject from the perspective of the school administration. The “he said/she said” nature of many incidents makes it hard to know what really happened. I think the reason the regulations are in place now is because too many campus administrators and local police did as musicprnt suggests. Had all the accusations that could have been investigated and properly resolved been investigated and properly resolved, perhaps there would not be a need for a federal mandate.

My friend’s D was sexually assaulted on her college campus, and it was not just a he said/she said. She reported it, but administration did not act properly on the report. I helped implement our campus’s policies recently, so she asked me for advice; I gave her passages of the VAWA law to cite and told her to ask for the case to be reopened. In the end, the family retained an attorney and the school conducted a full investigation. The young man received a penalty that he would not have received had they not pushed the issue. This is the sort of thing that led to the law/regulations.

That said, the rules are tough to implement, rough to follow, and may result in innocent people being found guilty. The burden of proof according to the VAWA regulations is different than that of a court of law. I would say I am sorry the world has come to this, but I don’t think it is necessarily any different today than it was in the dinosaur days when I was in school … it’s just that now people are trying to grapple with how to address it.

My son says, “Don’t have sex with anyone from your school, don’t have sex with anyone at your school, and if you do have sex with someone, record everything - including their specific consent to the act and the recording (but don’t post it on the internet or send it to your friends).”