Advocates for victims of sexual assault on college campuses make a lot of demands. One of their regular requests that does not get much media attention, though, is for more funding for Title IX offices at their local college campus.

That request, though, is misguided for several reasons and betrays some of the fundamental shortfalls of the current Title IX system.

Victim Advocates Regularly Call for More Money for Title IX Offices

Just the most recent call for more Title IX funding came from the University of Southern Indiana, a college of 9,000 in Evansville, Indiana. Student organizations representing the interests of sexual assault victims are demanding increased funding for a central office for Title IX, as well as for support groups that are separate from it.

The central Title IX office would give a physical presence for the investigators and would help students know where to go to get help, rather than having to track down individual people scattered around campus.

The support groups outside of the Title IX office would give alleged victims someone to talk to without initiating a formal Title IX investigation.

Spending More Money on Title IX Won't Make Things Fairer

It should be a red flag that all of the requests for increased Title IX funding are coming from victims' advocate organizations, rather than from people who represent the interests of people accused of misconduct.

This discrepancy is because of how the Title IX wing of college administrations has come to represent an extension of victim advocacy in order to secure the interests of the school, itself. Title IX investigators and hearing boards bend over backwards to reach a conclusion in favor of alleged victims. They do this in order to secure funding from the federal government, which requires that schools respond to allegations of sexual misconduct “appropriately.”

But the goals of that increased funding are even more telling. They tend to involve bringing in new investigators and increasing the outreach of Title IX offices. They all focus on bringing more alleged victims forward, rather than building the office's ability to reach legitimate and accurate resolutions to existing claims.

No Title IX funding request includes the costs of retaining a judge or even a mediator to hear Title IX claims, or even to provide training to laypeople and college staffers on the hearing board.

Instead, the advocate organizations behind these funding demands are the same ones that are undermining the ability of Title IX officials to legitimately investigate sexual misconduct claims. They are stripping away the rights of accused students to cross-examine their accusers, and are doing everything that they can to prevent defendants from actually defending themselves, all under the guise of reducing the trauma of reporting misconduct.

Title IX Defense Lawyer and Advisor Joseph D. Lento

Joseph D. Lento is a lawyer who defends students, faculty, and staff members who have been accused of sexual misconduct and violating Title IX. He is also a national Title IX advisor.

Call his law office at (888) 535-3686 or contact him online for help.