Empowering Survivors Means Supporting Their Choices, Including Alternatives to Title IX Proceedings

As a result of systemic racism, oppression, misogyny, and classism, many formalized systems, such as the criminal legal system or campus sexual misconduct proceedings, are inaccessible or undesirable avenues of justice for marginalized communities. One major line of protestation to The Department of Education’s (DOE) new Title IX concerns its approach to informal resolutions. Approaches to informal resolutions, such as restorative justice, for survivors of sexual and intimate partner violence have long been met with skepticism. While not without cause, this paternalistic view that providers know what’s best for survivors, discounts the empowerment an alternative process can provide a survivor. Having led an organization that has represented hundreds of survivors in Title IX proceedings, I am familiar with how formal systems often fail to meet survivors’ needs. Standing in absolute opposition to informal processes ultimately diminishes survivors’ autonomy over their experience. 

My organization seeks to empower our clients to achieve survivor-defined justice because a survivor being the expert on their own life means they should have control over the decisions affecting their case. This includes the choice to engage in an informal resolution under Title IX. So long as those informal processes are voluntary, flexible, and contain proper oversight and safety mechanisms, I support the DOE’s permissive stance on informal processes. I am against mandated participation by survivors in such processes and feel students should be free to disengage from the informal resolution at any time.

An informal resolution process can offer parties an opportunity to address the survivor’s specific concerns and needs without requiring the survivor to testify, undergo cross-examination, or rely on a decision from a hearing panel that falls short of survivors’ desired outcome. Informal processes offer the option for an assailant to take responsibility for their actions--an important remedy that is often unavailable in a formal process because admitting wrongdoing might result in the perpetrator’s suspension or expulsion. I, and my staff, have witnessed the value restorative justice options have for our clients, including increased control over the process than is available in a formal system, ongoing support not available in a formal system, and options for justice outside of traditional punitive remedies. 

While much of the new regulations are problematic, concern for student safety should not result in policies that disempower survivors and limit their options for justice. For those opposed to alternative justice like informal resolution, I ask you to consider how your experiences, internal biases, and generalized assumptions may conflict with your advocacy for survivor-defined justice.