Using Intersectionality to Reimagine Title IX Adjudication Policy

• In Event: Higher Ed Policy and Campus Crises: Sexual Violence and COVID Contexts

Abstract

Using critical discourse analysis, this paper reveals how power is inherent in and maintained through Title IX campus-based responses to sexual violence. Through an intersectional analytic framework, we interrogate the role of identity and power in Title IX adjudication processes. We challenge the reliance on fairness and neutrality, which leads institutions to a one-size-fits-all approach to implementation of this policy. We also demonstrate how parallels to the criminal justice system disproportionately oppress survivors with marginalized identities. Restorative Justice and community-based accountability are presented as alternatives to Title IX adjudication. We urge campus educators to push for policy that attends to sociopolitical and historical context of survivors and moves from punitive processes to ones that are survivor-centered and community focused.

Authors

• Brenda Lee Anderson Wadley, The University of Arizona

• Sarah S Hurtado, University of Denver