COMMONWEALTHTIMES.ORG @theCT
THE INDEPENDENT PRESS OF VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY 2019 Newspaper Pacemaker finalist
VOL. 61, NO. 7 OCTOBER 2, 2019
A TITLE IX SNAPSHOT ‘GOD KNOWS WHAT HE DID TO ME’ Illustration by Sammy Newman
SARAH ELSON Contributing Writer The details described in this article may be upsetting to some readers. When she woke up, there was blood all over the bed. On the sheets, all over a pillow and her underwear, she said. The inside of the comforter was coated. Investigators asked her what clothes she had on and what type of underwear she was wearing. They wanted to know how she could tell the man she says assaulted her was upset that she didn’t want to participate in sexual activity. And among other “probing and uncomfortable questions,” one VCU student says she was asked whether she had an orgasm during the encounter. A little more than a year after the sexual assault she says occurred in May 2018, Jamie, who asked that her real name not be published, is speaking out against VCU Equity and Access Services’ handling of the investigation, which found the man did
not engage in non-consenua sexual contact. Equity and Access Services handles all cases of sexual misconduct, sexual violence, sex discrimination and gender discrimination that are brought to the university as part of the Title IX policy. “I think that it’s a mechanism for covering up sexual assault that happened at the university,” Jamie said of the department. She said there were discrepancies in VCU’s mandatory “Not Anymore” online training and the university’s consent policy, and the final conclusion of the investigation, including comments made in the report. Equity and Access’ consent policy defines affirmative consent as a “voluntary, informed, non-coerced agreement through words and actions freely given.” Some elements of the language the “Not Anymore” training uses to describe consent are as follows: • Consent to one sexual act doesn’t mean a person is consenting to a subsequent one • It can be modified during sexual activity • Flirtatious behavior or a person’s dress do not imply consent • Passiveness, a lack of response and silence do not constitute consent “People understandably often are quite upset when an investigation does not reach the outcome they hoped for,” said university spokesman Mike Porter in an email. “However, finding a respondent not responsible after conducting a fair and thorough investigation under the Policy, while protecting the pri
vacy of the parties, is not covering up sexual assault.” According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 1 in 3 women have experienced sexual violence in their lifetimes, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health reports that 1 in 5 women in college experience sexual assault. The final report, which Jamie provided to The Commonwealth Times, contains evidence, witness statements and comments
made by an anonymous third party, who was in charge of deciding whether the alleged perpetrator was in violation of VCU’s policy in regard to non-consensual sexual contact. The report was given to Jamie by the lead investigator on May 20. It established that the “respondent” digitally penetrated Jamie, the “complainant,” who said force was used against her during the encounter, including hair pulling, grabbing and being moved into different positions. But the report found that because she was unable to recall the details of those behaviors — and could remember other details from the encounter — coupled with a denial from the respondent, no controlling behaviors were used against her. See TITLE IX on page 2
Sexual Crimes at VCU Fall 2019 Monroe Park Campus
MCV
Sexual Assault
2
1
Sexual Battery
2
1
Forcible Sodomy
0
1
Forcible Rape
1
0
Indecent Exposure
0
4 Information compiled by Andrew Ringle Infographic by Yosef Cohen