MARISSA BURR
Opinion Editor
CHLOE KOWALYK
Editor in Chief
The Title IX office is located on the second floor of Fenton Hall, but being in a central location on campus has not guaranteed students easy access to its services.
On March 5, The Leader’s Opinion Editor Marissa Burr reached out to Dr. Vicki Sapp, Fredonia’s Title IX coordinator, to inquire about any events they would be hosting in April for Sexual Violence Awareness Month. Burr’s intention was to write a news piece covering the upcoming events in order to promote attendance by students by giving them ample notice.
However, only after two follow-up emails were sent and 14 days had passed did Burr receive a response. Referencing the possible event schedule, Sapp wrote, “Please note that currently the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion [ODEI] is going through a transition period. We are excited and preparing to welcome new staff to the office. Once we are able to onboard the staff we will be able to offer campus-wide programmatic initiatives.”
Upset by this answer, Burr sent another email to clarify when the campus community could expect events, and if the onboarding process would be completed before the end of the Spring 2024 semester.
The following was Sapp’s response: “The positions have been posted and search committees identified. The Search Committees will engage in the hiring process to identify new staff. The hiring process could take about an estimated timeframe of six to eight weeks, give or take about one to two weeks on both ends to allow the identified staff to transition to their new roles here at SUNY Fredonia. Once ODEI secure staff they will be onboarded and acclimated to their new positions. ODEI will work collaboratively with campus stakeholders and partners to start the process of planning programmatic initiatives for the Fall 2024, Spring 2025 and beyond semesters.”
Therefore, there will be no events sponsored by the Title IX office and ODEI for Sexual Violence Awareness Month, despite the recently released results of the campus climate survey, which amplified the need for these institutions to be more available to students.
Chloe Kowalyk, The Leader’s Editor in Chief, reached out to Sapp for a follow-up article for the piece “FIRE organization ranks SUNY Fredonia in the ‘red’ for free speech,” which was published on Feb. 20.
In the article, FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression) references one of Fredonia’s policies, titled “Sexual Discrimination and Sexual Harassment” and critiques it.
Following the publication of the previous article, Kowalyk reached out to Sapp in hopes of gaining clarification on the policy to share with students in an additional piece.
However, Sapp replied that the ODEI has “no comment.”
It seems that Burr wasn’t the only one to experience this difficulty in communication and accessing the Title IX office.
The campus climate survey results revealed that only 35.6% of student respondents knew how to contact the Title IX office. In addition, according to the survey, “only 28.4% of students reported their incident to someone and 0% reported the incident to an on-campus resource such as University Police, residence hall staff or campus violence prevention or advocacy staff.”
That includes the Title IX office, which claims that staff transitions are preventing them from planning any activities for students until next semester.
When looking at other results from this survey, the need for sexual violence prevention becomes greater. For instance, 46% of respondents reported unwanted sexual comments, sexual slurs and demeaning jokes. In addition, 8.4 percent were sexually penetrated without giving consent, and 8.4% have received or been forced to perform oral sex without consent.
Of these respondents, “71.2% of students knew their perpetrator and 42.9% reported that the person was affiliated with the campus community.” These results reveal that Fredonia has a need for sexual violence prevention activities. There are survivors within the immediate school community.
Statistics will show that many of those affected are women.
The National Institute of Health states that “women ages 18-24 have the highest rate of sexual violence victimization compared to females of other ages and 81.3% of female victims experience a first rape before age 25.” This puts students in a high-risk context due to increased independence and more risky decisions, leading to negative results.
The National Institute of Health reports that the highest risk factors for sexual violence include being female, being of a sexual/gender minority and having multiple marginalized identities.
These are the students who need Title IX resources but do not have easy access to them.
Some students who do access Title IX’s resources have expressed negative experiences following the use of them.
One student, who has chosen to remain anonymous due to any potential retaliation from those involved in the incidents, has faced two significant experiences when attempting to utilize Title IX.
During the student’s freshman year (2020-2021), she had been sexually harassed by another student who was in a leadership position within a class the student was taking.
The student had screenshots of the messages sent to them by the other student and decided to bring them to the Title IX office.
After bringing the information to Title IX, the student was told that nothing could be done about the incident, as five different people needed to come forward with the same experience.
The student then began looking for other students who had also been sexually harassed by the same person.
After finding three others, the student returned to the Title IX office. But, because there weren’t five as the office had originally suggested, the alleged perpetrator was not held accountable for their actions. He was able to graduate and start a career.
However, the student was removed from the class she was in with him, and needed to find a tutor to teach her the material to pass the class.
This anonymous student is not the only one to experience some form of sexual harassment on campus.
Each year, Fredonia releases an annual Campus Security and Fire Safety Report, which details statistics on several different crimes and fire safety ordinances on campus.
In 2022, which was the most recent report The Leader could access, there were four reported instances of rape in on-campus buildings (including residence halls), four reported cases of rape in on-campus student housing and two in on-campus buildings.
These numbers are slightly lower than those reported in 2020 and 2021, yet it is important to consider how many cases have gone unreported.
In addition, there was one incident of stalking reported in 2022.
While the 2023 Campus Security and Fire Safety Report appears not to have been released yet, it has been made clear through the results of the 2023 campus climate survey that 28.4% percent of students reported an incident of sexual assault or harassment.
The survey recommends that the college “look into the resources provided to students and work on increasing the visibility of both reporting methods and the Title IX office.”
However, with a lack of programs provided by the Title IX office, it is currently unclear how the office is seeking to educate students.