Although I am not naïve to prevalent incidents of sexual assault acts, I never thought of the affect it had on students, mainly because I never experienced it personally. Researching this topic and understanding how I can help and the laws and policies protecting the victims, and rectifying the cases is one small step I can take to help students. 

Mikiba Morehead, M.A. is Baylor College of Medicine's Title IX Coordinator and Director of Student Disabilities Coordinator. Mikiba is currently working on her Doctor of Education degree where she is researching victims of revenge porn’s academic success in higher education. After speaking with Mikiba about her dissertation topic, my interest in sexual harassment and misconduct in higher education peaked. I never thought of how impactful these assaults can affect students. 

Mikiba provided her insight of her experience and other stories she has listened to over the years and how Title IX and campus actions have evolved. Social movements like Me Too, have given the courage to individuals voice their experiences. With more reports of assaults and misconduct, Mikiba explained, a better grasp and understanding of the federal, state, and institutional law is pertinent. The assaults have a great effect on students’ ability to perform well academically. It is the administrator’s responsibility to help their mental state by completing investigations of complaints efficiently (M. Morehead, personal communication, September 24, 2019).

There has been a rise in respondent driven lawsuits since the Obama administration, Mikiba explains.  Many counter lawsuits have been brought forth under the gender bias. The majority of accused are male. The accused men are attempting justice by claiming discrimination of sex (M. Morehead, personal communication, September 24, 2019). 

Best practices: 

1-    Continue to make the policy available and easy to understand

2-    Rid of all biases

3-    Use all available resources when investigating (personal communication, references, or laws) (M. Morehead, personal communication, September 24, 2019). 

Title IX protects people from exclusion of any educational program or activity receiving federal funding in the United States based on sex (20 U.S.C. § 1681). Students of both genders fall victim to sexual assault, Title IX protects the discrimination of victims attending institutions of sexual assault and misconduct.

 This Texas Education Code requires schools to adopt policies of reporting, investigating, and resolution of sexual assault reporting on higher education campuses (TEC § 51.9363).