Talking Stick - September/October 2017 - 24

RES LIFE

LESSONS LEARNED IN
MISSOULA
Where Title IX and res life roles intersect
violence, and rape, but they must also
go beyond simple compliance with
federal mandates. Residence life staff
must be accessible, approachable, and
supportive of students who are victims
of sexual misconduct.
In an effort to enhance awareness,
this article examines Krakauer's book as
an example of how residence life staff
can go beyond the traditional boundaries of technical guidance and training
in policies and procedures. Krakauer's
research can be used as a model for
how staff can educate themselves and
learn how to best serve students who
are victims of sexual misconduct.

by Christine Pajewski and Michelle Boettcher
One of the most critical issues on college and university campuses in the
U.S. is the prevalence of sexual assaults;
according to Bureau of Justice statistics, nearly 1 in 5 women experience
some form of unwanted sexual contact
- and the rate is likely higher since,
as Jon Krakauer, author of Missoula:
Rape and the Justice System in a College
Town, notes, "80 percent of those who
are assaulted don't report the crime to
authorities." Title IX of the Education
Amendments of 1972 prohibits sex
discrimination and requires colleges
and universities to prevent and respond
to claims of sexual misconduct - a
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TALKING STICK

broad term that includes sexual harassment, sexual assault, sexual violence,
relationship violence, and stalking. The
application of Title IX is a means to
protect students in all areas of campus
life and has become an evolving area of
work for all faculty and staff, particularly those working in residence halls.
Student affairs practitioners in hall
director and resident assistant positions must be educated on how Title
IX policy and institutional processes
inform the decisions they make in
crisis situations. They must be trained
and prepared to respond to incidents
of sexual harassment, interpersonal

Krakauer presents the narratives of
several rape victims in Missoula, focusing on the experience of a 22-year-old
woman, a native of Missoula and a student at Eastern Oregon University, who
reported that she had been raped by a
member of the University of Montana's
football team. This was one among a series of sexual assaults in Missoula and
on the University of Montana campus
that were investigated in 2012 both by
Diane Barz, a former member of the
Montana Supreme Court, and the Department of Justice. Barz's conclusions
were damning, laying the blame squarely on the university: "A rape-tolerant
campus with ineffective programming,
inadequate support service for victim
survivors, and inequitable grievance
procedures threatens every student."
And the Department of Justice's investigation revealed a troubling indifference
on the part of university and local authorities, many of whom dismissed the
allegations or focused more on defending members of the football team than
Talking Stick - September/October 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Talking Stick - September/October 2017
