Image courtesy of Rewire News
Content Warning: This piece discusses Sexual and Gender-Based Misconduct (SGBM), sexual violence, and sexual violence against students. There are resources for survivors listed at the bottom of this article.
On Monday, February 28th, a civil rights attorney at Public Justice Alexandra Brodsky spoke at Skidmore’s The Center. Her talk was focused on Title IX, sexual justice, and student activism - all prominent topics on campus following last semester’s walkout against the College’s Sexual and Gender-Based Misconduct (SGBM) and Title IX processes. Brodsky was brought to campus by the Skidmore Speakers Bureau to speak “about the challenges of Title IX on college campuses, advocating for sexual violence survivors in the legal system, and what students can do to make change in the system.”
The author of Sexual Justice: Supporting Victims, Ensuring Due Process, and Resisting the Conservative Backlash and co-founder of Know Your IX, Brodsky is an advocate for stronger institutional policies against sexual harrassment, especially in educational settings.
Brodsky began her talk by diving into how she got involved with Title IX policy activism as a student at Yale University. She noted that while it sometimes may feel as if nothing has changed - and in many aspects this is true - there has also been “momentous change” surrounding Title IX on school campuses over the past decade.
While at Yale, Brodsky joined a federal lawsuit with the United States Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights against the university, opening an investigation into the University’s “failure to eliminate a hostile sexual environment on campus, in violation of Title IX.” Brodsky explained that, at that time, few students lacked the legal knowledge to know they could report Title IX violations to the University. Students who did report were “uniformly unhappy” with the system. One of the positive changes Brodsky noted over the past decade has been students becoming more informed and knowing a “uniform language” to discuss Title IX.
The outcome of the suit against Yale created almost “instantaneous” change. Multiple students coming together and filing a joint complaint was a new “group systemic approach,” and ultimately an effective and powerful tool for institutional development. Quickly, Yale named a new Title IX coordinator, giving students a place to go to report Title IX violations. Brodsky reflected that it was “exciting to see that the law could work for us.”At the same time of this movement at Yale, there were many other student activists across the nation that were working towards the similar goals of sexual justice on their campuses.
In April of 2011, the Dear Colleague Letter was released which “required schools to adopt a minimal standard of proof—the preponderance-of-the-evidence standard—in administering student discipline.” In her talk, Brodsky explained the Dear Colleague policy letters were not narrowly focused on punishing wrongdoings, but instead worked to support students on “how to feel safe after something terrible happened.” She argued that schools were banking on the fact that students would not know their rights and the Dear Colleague Letter fueled student organizers into working to improve their campuses.
When Brodsky and her classmates filed their suit against Yale, they did not know that what was occurring on their campus was a national problem. After recognizing a sense of national solidarity surrounding sexual harrasment at educational instituions, and a lack of adminstrative support - and in some case outright negligence - Brodsky co-founded a youth led campaign called Know Your IX.
Know Your IX started as a summer project, but developed into an organization that is still active today. There is a “real need for an organized student voices,” bringing law and policy to students and making sure student voices are heard by policymakers, Brodsky emphasized, and Know Your IX works to make progress towards these goals. While this timeline can paint “a really sunny story of progress,” Brodsky emphasized that with every step forward there has been tremendous backlash.
One of these moments of tremendous backlash occurred in 2020 when the Trump administration brought forward new Title IX regulations, making it harder for survivors to report, and in many cases eliminating the opportunity for survivors to report if the assault happened on their college’s campus. In fact, the vast majority of assaults do not. Brodsky noted that the Biden administration is trying to change the current standards, yet federal policy changes are only one important step: “what is really going to determine the future of Title IX on campuses is student organizers.”
After providing an informative overview of Title IX policy over the past decade, Brodsky pivoted to talking about her experience as a student activist while in college. Brodsky emphasized that a school investigation does not need to look exactly like a criminal trial. She further explained that when you look at many schools’ procedures for all types of misconduct, the burden of proof suddenly gets much higher for cases of sexual harrasment - an institutional failing at many colleges.
Brodsky offered four points of advice for student activists. First, “connect local issues to national policy.” As Brodsky noted, there are many ways schools mistreat survivors, and lots of those rules are set on the national level. Second, there are many regulations that let schools off the hook - such as not mandating institutions address off-campus sexual assault - but Brodsky emphasized this does not mean institutions cannot address these issues. Students can encourage their administration to meet higher standards.
Third, students should dream bigger than punishment. Brodsky noted that in some cases, the discipline of an assaulter may be key to a survivor being able to move forward, but there is also more support a school can offer to a survivor. Brodsky highlighted making sure survivors have access to healthcare and tutoring services in order to not fall behind in classes, as well as investing resources in restorative justice options. However, Brodsky discussed restorative justice under the caveat that the institution must bring in experts and the person steering the process “cannot be a random dean who read a book yesterday.” Brodsky emphasized that under the practice of restorative justice, everyone involved in the case must have opted in truly of their own free will. The practice can be beneficial to survivors and should be offered as an option by institutions, but must be done correctly. Brodsky’s fourth point of advice for student activists was to effectively organize across movements. She discussed connecting the activism to end sexual violence with the movement to get rid of cops on campus. Her overarching message was the necessity to protect survivors from backlash.
When discussing effective ways for students to organize on a college campus, Brodsky highlighted the importance of writing down what actions organizations and activists have taken and what has proven to be effective and ineffective. The typical Skidmore student is only on campus for four years.
Brodsky’s talk was a good launch pad to move the Skidmore SGBM conversation forward.
When a student asked Brodsky if she had any advice to speed up an administration’s slow response, Brodsky noted that when schools need to act quickly, they figure out how to do so and media attention is one of the most effective ways to do this. Brodsky explained, “administrations know they can wait people out, wait for the loud [students] to graduate” so the movement must be upheld through multiple generations of students.
Wellspring 24-hour hotline
518-584-8188
http://www.wellspringcares.org
Saratoga Planned Parenthood/Schenectady Planned Parenthood
518-584-0041 or 518-374-5353
New York State Sexual Violence Hotline
English: 1-800-942-6906
English TTY: 1-800-818-0656
Spanish: 1-800-942-6908
Spanish TTY: 1-800-780-7660
Skidmore Counseling Center (Confidential)
Jonsson Tower, first floor
518-580-5555