Recent changes to the sexual misconduct policy have some students concerned about the impact on assault victims.
The adjustments to the University’s sexual misconduct and harassment student conduct policy reduce the statute of limitations for when sexual assault victims must report cases from two years to one. Additionally, the standard for proving someone guilty of sexual misconduct has been reduced, per federal guidance, from a “clear and convincing” standard to a “preponderance of evidence” standard. Some students believe that the changes, which came into effect this Spring, might negatively affect victims who feel uncomfortable reporting an incident.
“While I recognize that some may feel that narrowing the time frame for reporting will mean fewer reports, the evidence doesn’t show this to be the case,” Stephen Bryan, associate dean of students and director of the Office of Student Conduct, wrote in an email Sunday. “I have reviewed all sexual misconduct cases reported to my office for disciplinary action over the past 10 academic years, and 96 percent were reported in less than a year after the incident. The average reporting time was within 60 days of the date of the incident, and 40 percent were reported within one week of the date of occurrence.”
The adjustments are the product of close collaboration between the Office of Student Conduct and the Department of Education and reflect the University’s efforts to revise policies to meet federal regulations issued last April. Because sexual violence is a subset of harassment, the reporting time frame for acts of sexual misconduct was changed to meet that of the harassment policy, Bryan added.
Supporting the victims
Senior Lillie Carroll, a gender violence prevention intern at the Women’s Center, said taking a leave of absence, suffering from post traumatic stress disorder or initially thinking they can handle the situation and its effects are some reasons why victims may take more than a year to report cases. Social pressure and alienation may also contribute.
Students who are participating in the Moxie Project—a social change program for women that involves an introductory class in the Spring, a summer project and a Fall capstone class—have been working on an initiative to meet with administrators and investigate the revised reporting policy.
Carroll, also a participant in the Moxie Project, said the research shows that in recent years, no students have reported a sexual assault to the Office of Student Conduct more than a year after the incident. These findings may be one reason why people are not fighting back against the policy changes, she added.
“It is important to note that students are reporting assaults that happened over a year ago to the Women’s Center—the fact that the Office of Student Conduct isn’t hearing these reports obviously doesn’t mean it’s not happening and that women don’t come forward past a year after the assault happens,” Carroll wrote in an email Monday.
Senior Ebonie Simpson, vice president of student life for Duke Student Government and a gender justice activism intern at the Women’s Center, said she questions the administration’s reasons for the policy changes.
“By decreasing the statute of limitations, seemingly [arbitrarily], administrators we’ve talked to have not been able to give us real reasons for the change, we are not supporting victims in the ways they deserve to be,” Simpson said. “Instead, we are protecting the perpetrators.”
Simpson acknowledges that although the state of North Carolina does not have a statute of limitations for felonious charges of sexual assault, it may be unrealistic to implement the same model at a university. She submitted a DSG resolution that urges the administration to allow victims to report incidents in a time frame that at least accommodates about five years at the University. The resolution, which was approved by DSG with only one dissenting vote, states that ideally there would be no statute of limitations at the University.
‘Part of our consciousness’
Develle Dish, a feminist campus blog focusing on gender issues, is holding a sexual assault awareness campaign throughout March.
“It’s not part of our consciousness to think of rape as something that is very psychologically traumatizing and something that takes long term care and to think about what it would take for a survivor to come to a place where he or she can report an assault or to even acknowledge the assaulted,” junior Sunhay You, the editor of Develle Dish and a gender justice intern at the Women’s Center, said.
As a part of the campaign, Develle Dish has been posting firsthand accounts from survivors as well as opinion pieces about topics such as rape culture.
“It was really important for Develle Dish to give voices and faces to the survivors and also just shedding light on the internal trauma that takes over a survivor’s life and what that experience is,” You added. “It’s just another way to get students and administrators in touch with what the reality is.”
Carroll finds the changes to the statute of limitations uncharacteristic of the University’s traditionally strong stance on sexual misconduct, pointing to the preponderance of evidence and the proactive staff reporting requirements as examples.
“We were surprised to learn of the change to the statute of limitations because it seems to counter the feeling behind other aspects of our sexual misconduct policy that are really supportive of victims,” Carroll said.
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