Title IX sexual violence reporting requirements: knowledge and opinions of responsible employees and students
Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research
ISSN: 1759-6599
Article publication date: 27 November 2017
Issue publication date: 20 March 2018
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how university employees’ and students’ understandings of Title IX may affect both students’ disclosure of victimization and perpetration and employees’ reporting to Title IX coordinators.
Design/methodology/approach
Study 1 surveyed 114 university employees about their knowledge of Title IX and what it requires of them. Study 2 surveyed 845 students to determine their knowledge of and opinions about Title IX mandatory reporting requirements, their beliefs regarding rape myths and feminism, and their sexual victimization history.
Findings
In general, faculty/staff members thought they were required to report sexual violence to Title IX coordinators and agreed with the reporting requirement. The majority (78.9 percent) of faculty/staff members said they would report a sexual assault disclosed by a student to the Title IX coordinator. Most students believed faculty/staff members were required to report sexual violence and reported high agreement with the reporting requirement. More than a third of students (36.3 to 36.9 percent) were unsure whether they would tell a faculty member about sexual assault (their own or that of a third party), and about a fifth (16.7 to 22.8 percent) were not willing to disclose.
Originality/value
These results underscore the importance of trainings to encourage both student disclosure and reporting by mandated reporters of sexual violence on college campuses.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
At the time of writing the paper, both authors were based at the Department of Psychology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). Amie R. Newins is currently based at Department of Psychology, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA.
Citation
Newins, A.R. and White, S.W. (2018), "Title IX sexual violence reporting requirements: knowledge and opinions of responsible employees and students", Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research, Vol. 10 No. 2, pp. 74-82. https://doi.org/10.1108/JACPR-04-2017-0282
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited