When Rachel Nelson, a biochemistry major at Hamline University, became a resident assistant, in August 2014, she went through training on the federal gender-discrimination law known as Title IX. As an RA, she was told, she was a mandatory reporter, a designation given to some staff and faculty members who are obligated to report any potential Title IX violations brought to their attention. Sometimes the violation takes the form of a harassing remark or concern about another student’s relationship; often, it’s unwanted sexual contact.
“It’s an interesting dynamic,” Ms. Nelson said. That’s because you’re called to be “a peer and a friend” to residents, she said, but also bound to report anything possibly under the purview of Title IX, even against students’ wishes.
While resident assistants have long played mediator to roommate disputes, their place on the front lines of Title IX, the gender-equity law that is bedeviling colleges and universities, is more recent. Though enacted in 1972, the law took on extra force in the eyes of the federal government after the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights in 2011 issued a “Dear Colleague” letter that pressed colleges to enforce Title IX in cases of sexual violence.
At the forefront of a university’s compliance is typically the Title IX coordinator. But coordinators can’t monitor an entire campus on their own, so they often rely on mandatory reporters to bring possible offenses to their attention.
And RAs are essential to that. They’re the ones who forge close relationships with residential students, said Christine Davis, associate vice chancellor for student affairs and dean of students at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (and a deputy Title IX coordinator). Those students see them “as mentors and see them as resources that they can go to in times of distress.”
That relationship, though, can sometimes prove problematic for resident assistants. Ms. Nelson, for example, befriended a resident who then confided that she had been sexually assaulted. It was hard, Ms. Nelson said, “because I had to say, ‘I have to tell someone about this,’ and to say that without her shutting down or without her disconnecting our lines of communication.” As a resident assistant, Ms. Nelson would normally remind students who came to her that their conversations were not confidential, and though some would go quiet at first, they would usually open up. She would sometimes tell residents that the student staff “can’t be confidential, but we’ll be as discreet as possible.”
Jim Whitaker is assistant director for staff and student programs in the residential-life office at UNC-Charlotte, and helps coordinate the training resident assistants there receive on Title IX. Part of that, he said, is to ensure that student staff members aren’t left feeling that they’re violating the trust of residents who come to them in confidence. By reporting, RAs are ensuring that students get help if they want it and are contributing to a “culture of support,” he said. Though the Title IX office will kick-start its own process and often reach out to the student, that student doesn’t have to respond.
But the Title IX reports serve another purpose: helping administrators find serial offenders. Ms. Nelson said she had been trained to report any incident, even a small one, because the administrators receiving the reports have a more-informed vantage point. “It’s about us being able to use that information to piece a larger picture together of what’s happening,” said Mr. Whitaker.
A New ‘Intensity’ on Title IX
Saunie Schuster, a co-founder of the Association of Title IX Administrators, conducts training for coordinators and other staff members. In that training, she said, RAs should be “funnels of information,” not sieves. “Don’t try to sift and sort. Is this Title IX? Is this not Title IX?” Let the Title IX administrator do that, she said. An incident that seems small could be a “puzzle piece” for the coordinator, demonstrating a pattern of behavior in the accused.
RAs are often prepared for their role as mandatory reporters during training sessions preceding the fall or spring semesters, adding to the litany of instructions they receive on college policies and resident care. The focus on Title IX, though, is relatively new.
Alvin Sturdivant is vice president-elect of the Association of College and University Housing Officers – International, and has held several positions in student housing and development. There’s always been training about harassment, he said, but “the intensity of the training around Title IX-related matters has definitely shifted in probably the last eight to 10 years.”
RAs at the University of Colorado at Boulder go through a two-part training on discrimination, harassment, and Title IX, said Julie Volckens, an associate director in the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance there. The training consists of an online tutorial and quiz and a two-hour in-person lecture, where participants consider hypothetical scenarios. “Do you think there’s a policy violation here? Yes? No? Maybe? OK, so let’s talk about that deeply,” Ms. Volckens said.
Part of the training, she said, is getting the RAs “into the mind frame that these are the things to look for. Don’t worry if you can’t decide. Report it up. When in doubt, report it up.” RAs nationwide are also typically made aware of other resources on a campus, like counseling services, and are told to direct students to them when needed.
The training helps set the stage for what RAs might encounter, said Mr. Whitaker, of UNC-Charlotte. They’re “signing up for this responsibility,” he said, to be part of a web of services supporting students.
Ms. Nelson is now an assistant area coordinator at Hamline, a position akin to a senior resident assistant. After reporting her former resident’s assault, she said, things were at first “weird and distant and awkward” between her and the other student. In an effort to limit the number of people who heard about the incident, Ms. Nelson made her report directly to the institution’s Title IX coordinator. And she continued to check in with the resident to make sure she was OK.
“Once she realized that she wasn’t just telling me this information and I didn’t care about her anymore, or that I was going to completely disregard it,” Ms. Nelson said, “I think it actually built a stronger relationship with her.”