On February 5, 2019 at 2:44 p.m., a Saint Xavier University student took to Twitter and made a statement pertaining to an alleged sexual assault that happened to her on campus.
The Tweet read, “I’m so upset, Saint Xavier University decided that there was not enough evidence to charge my rapist after a full investigation including video footage, multiple witness statements, etc. He’s free, no consequences, walking on campus.”
It did not take long for the Tweet to go viral, not only on Twitter and other social media platforms, but around the SXU campus community.
Some students on campus were heard discussing the student Tweet, what it means for the SXU community, and the administration’s response to the situation.
The female student who posted the Tweet gave the reason behind why she made the decision to publicly come forward on social media by stating, “I had been really upset and I was very emotional that day. I don’t really know. I was just sad. That was the reason. I was just sad and I was upset. I just posted it. I didn’t think. I didn’t put that much thought into it.”
SXU students and Alumni were quick to state their opinion on the matter by responding to the tweet.
Many people left positive and encouraging words, while others left what they were feeling and thinking about the situation in opposed to a positive response.
“I wasn’t really thinking about a reaction at the time. Like that day I had been in bed mostly sleeping, sad. But I wasn’t really expecting a reaction. I knew I was going to get some kind of reaction, but I didn’t think that I was going to get this sort of reaction on this scale,” stated the female student who made the post on Twitter.
Saint Xavier University made its first official statements on Thursday, February 7 through the school’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. The statement read: “SXU takes all allegations of assault seriously and will continue to do everything we can to protect our students and community. Any additional comments, questions or concerns should be directed to our Associate Dean of Students and Deputy Title IX Coordinator at mahersheahan@sxu.edu.”
The allegation of the sexual assault brought to light how many students do not know what actions to take, nor the procedure that takes place if an alleged asexual assault occurs.
The second statement by the University was sent out through an email on February 9, 2019 at 7:02 p.m. Part of the email stated, “SXU does not tolerate sexual misconduct, or assaults of any kind, which violate our Student Code of Conduct, state and federal law, and the mission of our University. We encourage any and all parties involved in sexual misconduct incidents to come forward, to know they will be treated with dignity and respect, and to participate fully in the Title IX process.”
It continued with, “While federal privacy laws, and respect for the health, well-being and dignity of those involved, prohibit the University from commenting on specific situations, we invite you to participate in one of our upcoming gatherings to make sure all students are informed about SXU’s systems, standards and resources available to students in distress.”
One of the four sessions was held on Sunday, February 10, at 7 p.m. in Regina Hall and was led by Samantha Maher-Sheahan, the Associate Dean of Students, and Title IX Deputy Coordinator.
The discussion started with Maher-Sheahan showing and explaining where and how a sexual misconduct report is filed.
“Anybody can file a sexual misconduct report. There is a place online. People can come into my office, into Public Safety, and Residence Life. You can talk to any staff member or faculty member who is called a responsible employee that is going to come into and talk to someone in the Title IX Office,” stated Maher-Sheahan.
The meeting consisted of students asking questions and voicing their concerns about how the process of sexual misconduct happens.
A student who attended the discussion asked, “In the process which gets forwarded to somebody making that determination, doesn’t that create bias?”
Maher-Sheahan responded, “A couple things. When you file a report, you’re going to have a report usually the size of 20 pages and you’re going to read through all of the things you are going to say. So you have to make a determination on whether or not there will be enough information. The people that would make a decision on that, in particular, whether or not an investigation should be moved to a board, would be anyone coordinator of the Title IX .”
She continued, “It is a lot of training. You have to go and learn a lot about the Office of Civil Rights, and how to make a determination along that way. So people who do investigating are literally information collectors. All they’re doing is taking information and putting it in. There is no way to create bias in the report itself, right. Because you are saying things like ‘this is the timeline we were able to establish,’ [or] ‘this is what these people said.’ It’s literally a data document.”
When asked after the meeting if as a student they felt like the school has prepared the other students to handle a situation like the Tweet pertained to, an SXU student replied, “No I do not. Aside from shoving educational videos down our throats, there hasn’t been any real discussion pertaining to these issues. We all did the ‘training’ but it was not substantial enough to remember.”
Due to the Tweet posted, a discussion for the SXU community was opened to find a way to resolve an issue to an epidemic that also affects many other college campuses. For more information about Saint Xavier University’s Title IX procedures, please review them online at https://www. sxu.edu/student-life/student-affairs/titleix.asp
Kylee Rus
News Reporter