CHAMPAIGN – The issue of sexual assault on college campuses has gained national attention in recent months, after prosecutors in New York reopened a case involving an allegation of gang rape at Cornell University.
Navigating next steps after a sexual assault can be overwhelming. Officials at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign say student survivors have several options of where to turn for help. But there are gaps in certain resources, as well as barriers and misconceptions that can prevent some from accessing the help they need.
Three campus entities — the Women’s Resources Center, Title IX Office and the University of Illinois Police Department — work together but function differently.
The university’s Title IX Office works with students directly, informing them of their rights, support options and choices for moving forward, according to associate director Jenna Cler.
She says part of the work involves addressing any misconceptions students may have about what happens after a report.
“They think that reporting to the Title IX office is automatically going to result in an investigation through the university,” she said. “That’s not the case… they have the agency to decide.”
Understanding the differences between pursuing an investigation and receiving support is a good foundation, she said. The office then helps students consider their options and decide on next steps.
‘They can tell us as much or as little as they want’
Students of any gender can turn to the Women’s Resources Center, which offers confidential support. Director Kasey Umland says each student’s needs lead and shape the conversation.
“When a student first contacts us, it really varies,” she said. “There’s obviously some pieces that are consistent… but because survivors’ needs are so specific, the conversations look different based on each individual survivor’s experience and what kind of support they’re looking for.”
WRC staff help students understand their rights, share information about university and community resources, and explain what confidentiality entails. From there, students can decide how much they want to share.
“We never want to dictate what a survivor has to tell us,” Umland said. “So they can tell us as much or as little as they want.”
Even if a student is not ready to report or pursue an investigation, Umland says the center can still help them access resources without requiring them to share details.
“Sometimes we can even just think about how to connect folks to different resources that don’t require the same level of disclosure,” Umland said.
A common request is academic accommodations — helping students address missed classes or assignments after an assault, or receive other classroom support, in conjunction with the campus Title IX office.
“But we can also help with safety planning,” she said. “We can think about: What are the routes that you take home? What are some of the ways in which this person might be trying to get in contact with you? Is blocking an option?”
Demystifying the process
When the Title IX Office receives a report of sexual assault, its staff reach out to the student survivor, inviting them to discuss assistance available to them.
“We answer questions and talk to them about what they need, so we work very closely with them and do a lot of referring,” Cler said.
Cler says the office tries to make the reporting process easy to understand for students who may be uneasy or unsure where to turn.
Students “get anxious. They’re going through a lot, right? There’s potentially trauma there,” Cler said. “They don’t know who to turn to, so we try to demystify the process as much as possible.”
Support from the Title IX office can include academic adjustments, safety planning, counseling and medical referrals.
Not everyone who files a report with Title IX wants to pursue an investigation, following formal or informal procedures, Cler explained.
Formal procedures involve an investigation that includes gathering evidence and interviewing witnesses, to determine whether university policy was violated. The informal route offers an alternative to addressing a complaint without a formal investigation and the disciplinary process.
“Some students don’t want to do either one of those, and they just need support,” Cler said.
A student may choose to report to law enforcement or Title IX, but reports don’t always equal investigations, Umland said.
“So even those are options for folks who don’t necessarily want an investigation,” she said, “but just want something sort of in the public record or just want access to different kinds of supports like safety planning.”
Cler says the Title IX office aims to protect a students’ privacy, but there are limits to that protection. She identified several concerns involving student safety, threats of violence and danger to self.
“We try to keep things as private as possible, but there are some restrictions,” Cler said. “Safety to self and others can come up, or threats of violence, imminent threats, and minors, certainly.”
Police vs. campus investigations
U of I’s Title IX office also provides students with information about police reporting, and can help facilitate a connection. But Cler said whether to report to police is entirely up to the student survivor.
“We don’t make that decision for them,” she said.
Police investigations are carried out separately from university investigations, according to the We Care FAQ on student discipline.
In the student disciplinary process, the standard of proof is “the preponderance of information standard, which means whether it is more likely than not sexual misconduct occurred,” whereas criminal trials use a higher standard of evidence — guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
“Although the police and the University may share information discovered in their investigations, they proceed independently, and the decisions reached in one do not necessarily impact those reached in the other,” according to the We Care website.
Fears, misconceptions and gaps in resources
The U of I’s sexual misconduct policy explicitly prohibits retaliation against anyone who reports sexual misconduct, files a complaint, or participates in a Title IX investigation. Retaliation is defined to include harassment, intimidation, threats, coercion or discrimination.
Even still, the most common concern Umland says she hears from survivors of sexual assault is fear of retaliation.
“They’re really worried about what that person might do,” she said. “That’s somebody who’s already harmed them once and who has already shown that they don’t respect their boundaries or that they will violate trust.”
From Umland’s perspective, there are still “significant gaps” in resources and support for student survivors.
“One of the things that we’re increasingly seeing is students [whose] needs are much more diverse, or their other identities are impacting their ability to access resources,” she said.
For example, someone whose immigration status or status as an international student may make them feel less comfortable accessing certain resources, she said, worried that it might impact their ability to renew their visa or stay in the U.S.
“That might make them feel less comfortable accessing university support even though they still have a right to do so,” she said.
Another barrier Umland sees: the lengthy process involved with investigations.
“Even in the best-case scenario, they’re taking several months,” she said. “And that’s a long time for this to be front-and-center in someone’s brain.”
When necessary, the Women’s Resource Center will connect survivors to emergency housing, relying on both campus and community partners. But there’s not enough availability.
“We know that’s a life-or-death need, in some cases, for someone to be able to get out of an unsafe situation and into a safe home,” Umland said. “Not having easy access to emergency housing through the university continues to be a challenge.”
It’s also important to note, Umland said, that it doesn’t matter whether an incident of sexual misconduct occurred on campus or in the community: “The rights of the students remain the same regardless of where it happened, and there is an option for investigation.”
A good first step for anyone not sure where to turn, Cler said, is the Title IX office.
“Come and talk to us. Let us help you,” she said. “We also want to make sure that you’re getting what you need and understand what you can do, whether it’s through the university, police, or something else.”