Saturday, August 05, 2017

Title IX Enforcement Is Such a Mess Right Now

Title IX Enforcement Is Such a Mess Right Now
Never mind your protestations to the contrary, you've been abused. Now settle down little girl, the men are talking. "Katz said she was summoned to a mandatory meeting with Title IX officials, where she told investigators that the two were playing around. Katz was subsequently told that she “must be afraid of Matt,” she said. She told officials she was not. Boermeester has not been arrested or charged with a crime. “When I told the truth about Matt, in repeated interrogations, I was stereotyped and was told I must be a ‘battered’ woman, and that made me feel demeaned and absurdly profiled,” Katz said. “I understand that domestic violence is a terrible problem, but in no way does that apply to Matt and me.” Katz said that she has “never been abused, assaulted or otherwise mistreated by Matt.” USC and its athletic department decided to ignore Katz’s assurance that she was not, in fact, a victim, and Boermeester “was suspended from USC, then barred from campus and from meeting with USC’s athletic trainers or members of the football team,” or with Katz herself. “In the statement,” notes Helfand, “Katz said she is coming forward now to clear Boermeester’s name and lobby for change in the Title IX office’s investigative procedures.” Now, there are of course situations in which abuse victims fail to realize they are being abused, are coerced into silence, and so forth. But at a certain point, if an adult woman states repeatedly and consistently that there has been a misunderstanding and she does not feel endangered by her boyfriend, the common feminist refrain Listen to women should apply as it would in any other situation involving an alleged assault. Katz wasn’t listened to, and as a result, she said in the statement, she feels “misled, harassed, threatened and discriminated against” by her own school’s Title IX investigators."

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