Infographic by Bryanna Bartlett
The Title IX and Gender Equity Office has a long and difficult road to regaining trust from San Jose State’s community.
In 2021, SJSU agreed to a $1.6 million settlement after the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division found that SJSU failed to respond adequately to reports of sexual harassment and sexual assault within the athletic department, according to a Sept. 21, 2021 news release from the Department of Justice.
The department also reported SJSU’s Title IX Office had been ineffective in responding to reports of sexual harassment and similar crimes, according to the same release.
SJSU hired Peter Lim, to take over as SJSU’s Interim Deputy Title IX Coordinator, on July 1, 2021, according to an email sent on May 22, 2022, by SJSU’s then Interim President, Steve Perez.
A year later, Lim was appointed as SJSU’s Interim Title IX and Gender Equity Officer.
Lim said Title IX is a federal non-discrimination law that prohibits schools and institutions that receive federal financial assistance from discriminating against others based on sex or gender.
He said the Title IX Office is responsible for responding and investigating complaints which report any form of discrimination based on sex or gender.
Lim said the process includes investigating reports of sexual harrassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, stalking and similar acts.
He said he and his colleagues have been taking steps to rebuild and improve SJSU’s Title IX Office.
“There’s tremendous work that still needs to be done,” Lim said. “Because we still have a lot of work to do to rebuild that trust or even engender that trust among students and faculty.”
Some SJSU faculty members still do not trust the Title IX Office.
“I had to stop telling students to go to [the] Title IX [office],” said Soma de Bourbon, assistant professor in sociology and interdisciplinary social sciences.
De Bourbon said she is not an expert in Title IX, but she noticed the Title IX Office has been having issues since she was hired at SJSU 11 years ago.
She said she used to refer students to the Title IX Office, but stopped after numerous students described their experiences with the office as traumatizing.
“They felt that it was more harmful to go,” said de Bourbon.
De Bourbon said she does not trust the Title IX Office because it appears to be the “[human resources] of the university.”
“You’re actually trying to file a complaint, but the university wants to handle it internally,” she said.
Lim said he and some of his other colleagues are not employed by the university, but the Title IX Office does have two internal investigators who conduct investigations when complaints are reported.
Despite knowing the Title IX is making changes, de Bourbon said she still doesn’t think the university takes victim’s reports seriously.
“If I was sexually assaulted on campus, I would not have gone through Title IX myself,” said de Bourbon.
De Bourbon said she now refers her students to other resources outside of the university who are able to respond to their complaints faster.
De Bourbon said she had a student who was experiencing domestic violence at home and needed a housing voucher to move out.
She said when her student went to the Title IX Office, the staff could not give her a housing voucher unless she maxed out on her loans.
De Bourbon said her student had to go to another organization outside of SJSU to receive temporary housing, access to a support group and extra legal assistance.
“[Survivors] need support in a lot of different ways,” said de Bourbon. “And if we’re asking survivors to come forward and tell their stories, we cannot do that in good conscience unless we’re willing to provide them with the support they need.”
Jamie, a faculty member on campus who identifies as transgender, said the Title IX Office is still not doing an adequate job to support victims who file a complaint.
Jamie requested to not use their real name because of fear of retaliation.
Jamie said they reached out to the Title IX Office in March 2022 to file a report after the chairman in their department made transphobic comments toward them.
After reporting to the Title IX Office, Jamie said the staff put them through numerous back and forth email conversations for five months without any direct results.
They said it took months for the Title IX Office to make an in person appointment with them and file an official report.
After five months of emailing, Jamie said the Title IX Office referred them to another department on campus to address their concerns.
“I still do not have any resolution to this problem,” said Jamie.
Jamie said they still have not received an email or any more support from the Title IX Office, or any other departments on campus.
After their experience, Jamie said the Title IX Office lacked three important factors: clarity, swiftness and compassion.
“It felt like I was just another file in a system that they had to manage rather than a person with an actual ongoing complaint and problem that needed resolution and still needs resolution,” they said.
Lim said that the Title IX Office has been expanding its resources to shorten its response times and to respond to complaints more adequately.
He said the Title IX Office just expanded its staff from two employees, filling seven major positions.
“Regardless of how strong those employees are, or how hard they work, it is impossible for two people to support the needs of 36,000 students and 4,000 employees,” said Lim.
According to an email sent on Feb. 15 by Lisa Millora, the vice president for Strategy and Institutional Affairs and chief of staff, office of the president & interim vice president for University Advancement and CEO of the Tower Foundation, the Title IX Office is currently searching for a new Title IX Gender Equity Officer.
To aid the search, Millora said the Title IX Office is scheduled to have a speaking forum on March 14 and March 16 in the Student Union to give students the chance to express their concerns and their expectations for the Title IX Office and the new Title IX Gender Equity Officer.