With the addition of Title IX placed on higher education, administrative investigations will allow students to feel more secure, both within their education and on a law enforcement level.
“Administrative investigations are civil in nature, while [a] criminal case has to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt,” stated Chief of Farmville Police Department, Doug Mooney.
Many cases reported to the university under Title IX are done as an administrative review, after a closing of the criminal investigation. “Before coming to me for criminal investigation, they will have already contacted the victim to determine the initial validity of the report,” said Mooney.
Reported cases unfortunately occur, not just on college campuses, but nationwide. However, under the new Title IX policy of higher education, the goal is for students to become informed of their rights and additional resources within the process.
Longwood’s Title IX Coordinator and Director of Student Conduct and Integrity, Jennifer Fraley, discussed the implementations on the new policy. Reports of misconduct incidents reach the Title IX office in Lancaster in a variety of ways. For instance, some reports come from the Longwood Police Department, while others can be directly taken to Ms. Fraley’s office from a concerned student, a direct witness or through an RCL staff member.
“Whenever there is notice of possible gender-based misconduct that may affect the educational, living and working environments of students, under Title IX, the University is required to investigate to the [greatest] extent possible,” stated Fraley.
She expects to see a great increase in reported incidents that will fall under Title IX. “I think this will occur for a variety of reasons, one of which is that students will be more informed about the process and what their rights and resources are within the process,” said Fraley.
Along with that, Fraley also believes that the general awareness of issues along the lines of sexual misconduct has been increased, specifically with training of faculty and staff, as well as the knowledge and resources to help students under their education as needed.
Behaviors that fall under Title IX sexual misconduct have been added, including any problems or cause of concern as dating violence, relationship violence, which falls under what’s referred to as “intimate partner violence” and stalking, which has been added under the Title IX category of behaviors. They will now be handled as incidents under Title IX issues, “whereas in the past we had not because they had not fallen under the Title IX umbrella of misconduct,” said Fraley.
Many of the cases reported to the university that fall under Title IX are most likely going to be second or third hand reports, according to Mooney. From which, the Police department conducts the criminal investigation and reviews the results with the Commonwealth’s Attorney for possible prosecution.
The Title IX coordinator and Longwood Police are involved for farther investigation. Mooney explained that Farmville Police would be notified and contacted in cases where the Farmville Police Department is needed to be the primary agency for investigation. “This will usually only be cases that occur off-campus,” said Mooney. Farmville Police investigates all cases of criminal acts as reported. Mooney added that whether a local resident or a case involving visitors or university students, in which case Title IX is also involved, “each case is worked with the same dedication to determine the truth,” and if needed, face criminal prosecution.
“I believe that this awareness of the resources and options available empowers people to report incidents of misconduct, which enables us to support our students in the process,” said Fraley. Reports of sexual misconduct continuing is a prevalent issue in society. However, under higher education on university campus grounds, students can help to prevent issues from arising.
“Our students can take a pivotal role in preventing and stopping sexual misconduct during their time here at Longwood, as well as in our global society,” added Fraley.
