
Content warning: This article contains content regarding sexual harassment.
I’m sitting in the hallway of the third floor of Robinson, listening to the history lecture being given a few doors down and fidgeting with my fingernails. I’m on my phone, trying to look busy, but every so often, I lean forward and glance through the windows of the old Anna Howard Shaw Center for Gender Equity office. There are a lot of people gathered in there, celebrating something, so I don’t want to disturb them. I snap my head back whenever one of them turns towards me.
It’s about ten minutes until I finally get up and open the door.
“Hi, sorry, I was wondering if I could talk to the victim advocate? But you seem busy, so I can come back later, sorry.”
The victim advocate stands up; she’s happy to talk to me, now’s a perfect time. Everyone else sees themselves out. I feel bad.
We go into her office, and I fill out an intake form. We’re both sitting in comfortable chairs. I put down the clipboard. Deep breath in, deep breath out.
Then I tell her what happened.
That interaction was almost two years ago, during my first semester of college. “What happened,” was that I had been sexually harassed by employees at my campus job. I told my friend about it, who encouraged me to go to the Center for Gender Equity.
How the Center Could Help Me
I went to the center the next day and talked to Haley Hill, the victim advocate at the time. She took me seriously, listened carefully and was angry on my behalf – which was extremely validating.
She talked me through the different accommodations the center could provide for students in a situation like this, and a little bit about the Title IX process, if that was something I wanted to pursue.
I only wanted one thing – to quit my job and work literally anywhere else.
I’m very grateful for Hill, because not only did she connect me with another job on campus, she hired me herself. I was a secretary for the Center for Gender Equity for the rest of my first year. She let me work the same amount of hours I had previously worked.
The Center for Gender Equity went out of its way to get me to feel secure enough to quit a job where I felt unsafe. I was provided with the exact support that I needed.
When I went to the Center for Gender Equity after my experience, I wasn’t sure if I was making a big deal out of nothing. I wasn’t scared to talk about it, but I was embarrassed I was oversharing or being dramatic.
I said that after my experience, all I wanted was a different job, and what I meant was, that’s all I wanted for myself. But, I also wanted to file a Title IX report for the benefit of every other woman or otherwise feminine presenting student on campus.
The Title IX Process
Title IX is complicated, so here’s a brief breakdown.
The process always starts with Title IX Coordinator Kelly Finn receiving a report of a possible policy violation, whether directly from a student, a mandatory reporter or someone else. Finn then reaches out to the student, makes sure what’s being reported is actually a Title IX issue and explains to the student their options going forward.
After that, there are two possible pathways: informal or formal resolution.
Informal resolution can only be used in some cases, and both the complainant and the respondent have to agree to it. The goal of the informal resolution path is restoration, Finn said, and for the respondent to acknowledge that they caused harm.
The formal resolution path is similar to Albion’s conduct process, Finn said. She assigns an investigator – a campus safety officer who’s been trained to investigate Title IX issues – and they’ll conduct a full investigation.
After the investigator finalizes the investigation, it moves into a hearing process conducted by a separate decision-maker. The hearing consists of two separate meetings, one between the decision maker and the complainant and one between the decision maker and the respondent.
The two parties are never in the same room, or even on the same call, Finn said.
The decision maker asks questions to both parties to make sure they have all the information, and witnesses may be present.
After the hearing, the decision maker has to answer two questions, Finn said:
“A, was our policy violated, and B, if it was, what’s an appropriate sanction for that?”
Finn then reviews the decision and shares it with both parties, and they both have the chance to appeal the decision. There’s a variety of penalties that might be decided on for the respondent, Finn said, such as a warning in their file, training, education, withheld suspension, suspension or expulsion.
My Title IX Process
No penalties were given to the men I reported. My case did not make it past the first couple of steps of the Title IX process.
In my ideal world, the men would have been fired. I also wanted a PSA to go out to all students, like “Hey, the men who work in the place you go every day might check out your ass when you walk by and whisper about it to each other” or “Hey 18-year-olds, this 30-something-year-old man might try to date you, which Albion college employees are literally not allowed to do!”
But he’s not an Albion College employee, technically. So alas, no such things were broadcasted.
My report was deemed not under Title IX’s jurisdiction. My understanding of why is that an outside company hires the employees I was reporting, and not directly employed by the college. Or, it could’ve been that my experience did not fit Title IX’s definition of sexual harassment. Or maybe I didn’t have enough evidence. I don’t remember exactly– it was two years ago, and I don’t have it in writing.
Either way though, it wasn’t Albion College’s or Kelly Finn’s fault. Title IX is a federal policy, and our Title IX office legally can’t pursue something that’s not under Title IX’s jurisdiction.
It was disappointing to me, sure, but there was just nothing that could be done about it.
Although there were no consequences through Title IX, Finn did share the full report with the outside company’s HR department, and I was told by the company’s general manager at the time that their staff did some kind of harassment training. So that’s something.
I haven’t seen some of the employees named in my report working in a long time, and I have no idea if that has to do with my report or not. I know that at least one of them still works here, though.
What I Regret and What I’m Glad For
For the past two years, I’ve gone to the place where I was sexually harassed over and over again, often multiple times per day. I thought that I could do it and be fine, but I was wrong. Every time I go to that place, I’m reminded of that experience.
I wish I’d asked for more accommodations from the Center for Gender Equity. I don’t know if they would’ve been able to make it so I could avoid that place – but I could’ve asked.
I think I would be a lot more fine right now if I hadn’t spent so much time reliving and dwelling on the harassment. I had to see the men who had harassed me, and who I’d seen harass other students, every single day. I was repeatedly asked by my ex-coworkers when I would come back to work with them. I was asked by students I didn’t even know why I had stopped working at my old job.
I still haven’t gotten away from all the reminders.
I’m glad I talked to Finn and pursued the Title IX route, even if it didn’t go how I wish it could’ve. Hopefully, that sexual harassment training made some difference.
What I know for sure is that I’m much better off now than if I hadn’t reached out for support at all. Feeling like I could quit my job was what I needed, and the Center for Gender Equity provided that for me. I just wish I had asked for more – because I deserved more.
I don’t feel that this experience has qualified me to give advice on how to handle sexual harassment. But what I can advise, is that it’s important to voice your needs. I know it’s super hard – believe me – but I also know that there are people on this campus who want to get those needs met for you.
They will fight for you, just knock and take that first step into their office.
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