Content warning: This article contains references to sexual assault.
Amanda Wendler (25C) was wearing her “beloved” green jeans the night she was sexually assaulted in her sleep. And nearly nine months later, Wendler wore them again as she lead a Dec. 2 rally to advocate for support for sexual assault survivors at Emory University.
Wendler, along with Caroline Zebrak (25B) and Katie Oshins (25C), felt compelled to collaborate and find a way to advocate for change due to their own experiences with Emory’s Title IX process. They organized the Stand With Survivors Rally at Asbury Circle on Dec. 2, a gathering of students that aimed to petition for “Title IX transparency, accountability and support for survivors of sexual assault at Emory.”
Zebrak, Wendler and Oshins worked in a coalition with the Young Democrats of Emory, Planned Parenthood Generation Action at Emory and Emory Sexual Assault Peer Advocates. However, they emphasized that their work is nonpartisan and Oshins added that “sexual assault doesn't discriminate between Democrats and Republicans.”
Songs such as “Survivor” by Destiny’s Child and “Hit Me with Your Best Shot” by Pat Benatar played during the rally, which included posters detailing the “roadmap” to reporting sexual misconduct to Title IX and a “slices and signatures” sign where participants could eat pizza, sign their petition and write messages in support of the open letter.
Responses were scrawled across the board in ink: “For my sister” with a heart drawn next to the message. The notes included: “because it's something that needs to be cared about,” “because I don't need to have to sign for this,” “for those who can’t” and "survivors shouldn’t go through this alone.”
At 1 p.m., students, faculty and alumni began marching from Asbury Circle to the Administration Building on the Quad. Students held signs, some of which included phrases like “sexual assault should not be a part of the university experience” and “I don’t have a funny slogan; I’m just angry. We deserve/d better.”
While marching, people repeated chants such as “shatter the silence, stop the violence,” “our bodies, our lives, we will not be compromised” and “this campus is mine, protect me Title IX.” Slips with the chants written on them were handed out during the rally, according to Madison Tiaffay (26C).
Natasha Rasnick (25C), who attended the rally, said she never felt uncomfortable while marching, despite onlookers. Rasnick, who said the Title IX process can leave survivors feeling “ripped apart,” added that she hoped people watching the march would recognize their calls for Title IX reform.
“It was the numbers of people I was standing with, and I think it was who I was standing with,” Rasnick said. “I knew I was alongside people that were fighting for the same thing that I wanted and it was just a community that was there for each other and there to make this school better.”
Before the march, Zebrak, Wendler and Oshins, as well as Emory Sexual Assault Peer Advocates President Anusha Tanneru (21Ox, 23C) and Professor of Pedagogy in Italian Christine Ristaino, provided opening remarks outlining the purpose and motivations for organizing the rally.
“We need reform tomorrow, but we needed it yesterday,” Oshins said. “This campus needs to be a safe place for survivors. We need survivor-oriented spaces that provide a place for healing, not re-traumatization.”
Zebrak shared her experiences with the Office of Respect, which was prompted by “inappropriate and misogynistic” comments to her and her friend by a faculty member. When asked about consequences for the faculty member, Zebrak said the staff member at the Office of Respect had told her that “Emory protects its faculty,” so she dropped the case.
“A university is only as good as its people are,” Zebrak said during her speech. “And that is why we can spark change. Emory should be better than this and Emory can be better than this. Emory must stand with survivors.”
Wendler, who wrote an op-ed in The Emory Wheel about her sexual assault and subsequent difficulties with the Title IX process, also shared her experiences during the rally. She said she was forced by the Title IX office to tell her story multiple times, adding that it should be up to the University to educate the Emory community on the Title IX process and sexual assault as well as hold students accountable for their actions.
“Emory breeds a culture of silence and shame surrounding sexual assault that is reinforced by the extremely traumatic process that the Title IX office currently offers,” Wendler said during her speech.
Since her assault in March, Wendler said she has had panic attacks when seeing her abuser, and had to skip club meetings and events to avoid running into him. However, Wendler said Emory did nothing to ensure she was safe or supported.
“Emory is failing every survivor that is brave enough to come forward with their story, and this failure costs us weeks, months and years of our lives,” Wendler said in her speech. “I’ve had so many parts of my college experience stolen from me by my assaulter and the school that has not kept me safe from him. We must demand better for ourselves, our friends and the survivors too scared to speak up because of the legacy of Title IX on campus.”
A professor’s experience with Title IX
Associate Professor of French Subha Xavier was among the faculty in attendance at the rally. She was compelled to support the rally due to her extensive experiences with assisting students who are sexual assault survivors.
Since coming to Emory in 2013, Xavier has dealt with the Title IX office at least 10 times — any time a student comes to her for help, she immediately notifies and reports it to the office. However, she emphasized the lack of transparency with the “black hole” that takes in all of the information.
“I encourage and counsel students, advise them to go and convince them that there is recourse here at Emory,” Xavier said. “Time and time again, they’ve come back to me so disheartened by the entire experience.”
Xavier also noted that there is a very fast turnaround in the Title IX office staff. In February, John Comaroff, a Hugh K. Foster Professor of African and African American Studies and of Anthropology at Harvard University (Mass.), was accused of sexually assaulting his graduate students, an occurrence that Xavier wanted the Emory Title IX office to educate her own graduate students about and acknowledge. However, after filling out a form, she never heard back. When she reached out again a couple weeks later, the people she had been in contact with no longer worked at Emory.
“What’s happening in that office?” Xavier said. “I’ve been there at least 10 times and I haven’t spoken to the same person twice. This is not OK.”
Calls for increased education on sexual assault
According to Wendler, one in five women in college experience sexual assault. The Office of Undergraduate Admission reported that there are about 8,000 undergraduate students enrolled at Emory, while the U.S. News calculated that 58% of those undergraduates are women. Based on those statistics, about 928 undergraduate students will experience sexual assault during their time at Emory, a number Wendler noted that she struggles to conceptualize.
“I have this horrible habit now it's, every time I'm in a room or in a class, I'm counting and realizing that so many of my peers have been assaulted too,” Wendler said. “And yet, there’s this culture at Emory where no one talks about what they've been through.”
Assistant Vice President of University Communications and Marketing Laura Diamond noted that many survivors choose to not report sexual misconduct.
“We are reviewing our policies and processes to make the reporting experience as supportive as possible, and we welcome feedback and collaboration from our community as we work to improve,” Diamond wrote. “When survivors share their experiences with Emory, we want them to feel safe, supported and respected.”
The University’s 2022 Clery Report indicated six reported cases of “rape” on the Atlanta campus in 2021, down from nine in 2020 and 14 in 2019. Additionally, there were seven reports of “fondling” on the Atlanta campus in 2021, while 11 were reported in 2020. However, only five instances of fondling were reported in 2019.
Wendler added that stigma and social repercussions, especially in a college environment, may contribute to sexual assault being underreported.
“There's probably a fear that comes with that, about what it will mean for your relationships with other people for your social life or your career,” Wendler added.
Additionally, Zebrak said it is important to note that not just women experience sexual assault.
“The same doubts that women have in reporting are probably just as prominent for men,” Zebrak said. “There's, if anything, maybe even more of a stigma around it for some male students because it's known to be less common. I just want to make clear this is for everyone. It is not just speaking for women.”
Wendler, Zebrak and Oshins, alongside their nonpartisan coalition, created a petition for students, faculty and administration to sign in support of an open letter outlining their specific calls to action for changes to the Title IX process.
Since creating the petition, they have collected over 1,200 signatures, about 10% of which are from faculty as of December 3.
Wendler told the Wheel she hopes to change Emory’s policies surrounding Title IX to better support sexual assault survivors because the University could do more to facilitate a trauma-informed procedure. This includes lack of physical and emotional support and minimal avenues for students to explore and understand the process.
“When I entered the Title IX process, I had no clue what I was signing up for,” Wendler said. “That just goes to show that Emory can be more transparent about the process and tell students how long it’s going to take and tell them what to expect.”
Wendler wasn’t aware of Title IX processes, including informal versus formal resolution. She initially decided on a formal resolution, a highly structured process that includes an investigation, a report and a live hearing.
The process took around seven months, and Wendler described the hearing — which included a cross-examination by the respondent’s lawyer — as her “tipping point.”
Deciding that she couldn’t move forward with the formal process, Wendler switched to an informal resolution. According to Emory’s Sex and Gender-Based Harassment and Discrimination Policy, this entails a Title IX coordinator working with each party to mediate or separately determine mutually agreeable outcomes.
“We have realized that while Title IX is a federally regulated process, and we can't change that, we can change Emory University policies surrounding Title IX that can better support survivors,” Wendler said. “ Emory is not doing all that it can to make it a trauma-informed process to support survivors physically and emotionally, and to ensure that students have avenues to explore and understand the process.”
Diamond wrote in an email to the Wheel that although Emory works to prevent sexual assault, administration also offers a range of resources for survivors. However, Diamond noted that the process can be “confusing” due to federal Title IX requirements.
“We are working to improve our internal communication around these requirements and look forward to collaborating with students and other members of our community as we develop an equitable and sustainable process for Emory,” Diamond wrote. “We appreciate how engaged and passionate our students are about this important issue, as evidenced by the support for today’s rally.”
Open letter to Emory administration
Wendler, Zebrak, Oshins and a couple other organizations contributed to the open letter outlining their specific calls for changes to Emory’s Title IX process.
Oshins added that Wendler spearheaded the movement, and they had instituted open meetings with Emory organizations like Planned Parenthood Generation Action and Sexual Assault Peer Avocates where they drafted the letter and worked together to make edits.
“We really all worked together and made sure that it wasn’t just from one person’s experience and one person’s encounters with the Title IX process, but that it really encompassed many perspectives,” Oshins said.
Zebrak mentioned certain short-term changes that could be easily implemented, including a Canvas page where Title IX resources are available for all students. Others, however, would be more long term.
For example, the letter states that the University must hire more counselors that can specifically support survivors and represent different identities — especially Black and LGBTQ-identifying counselors. The “traumatic” Title IX process is exacerbated by the “lack of accessibility to therapists who reflect and understand the identities of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ students,” the open letter states.
The writers of the letter also advocate that students should only have to tell their story once, in addition to writing a report throughout the formal resolution process. The letter calls for this change to be made by fall 2023.
The letter notes that it is “extremely traumatic for a survivor to have to retell their story over and over again,” and that “retelling not only risks retraumatization in victims but also discourages survivors from following through with their report.”
Since advertising for the rally and sending their petition to around 800 professors and multiple administrators, Zebrak said that, in addition to signing the letter, some faculty have admitted to being survivors or acknowledged the issues with the Title IX process after working with students.
“Emory is an academic institution, but it’s also an institution that cares very much about its students and wants to do everything it can to support its students academically and emotionally,” Wendler said. “And we want to make that happen. And we want people to know that Emory is looking to make that happen.”
Reflecting on her experiences this year, Wendler said that she was moved by how many people responded after publishing her op-ed. She received hundreds of direct messages from students she had never met, alumni who had gone through the Title IX process and others who shared their own stories with her.
“I have this quote that I've always loved: ‘You were given this mountain to show others how it can be moved,’” Wendler said. “I was given this to show other people how they can get through it. It's really been a very empowering process, and a really healthy way for me to channel my energy and not feel so helpless about what I’ve gone through.”
Update (12/7/22 at 7:09 p.m.): A previous version of this article stated that Caroline Zebrak (25B) discussed a faculty member's inappropriate comments with the Title IX office. In fact, she discussed these comments with the Office of Respect.
Melina Ross (26C) contributed reporting.
If you have experienced sexual assault at Emory University, Title IX resources can be found here and Office of Respect resources can be found here.
If you have experienced sexual assault and are outside of Emory, call the RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-4673 or visit the online chat hotline here. The Georgia Network to End Sexual Assault (GNESA) can be found here. Grady Rape Crisis Center resources can be found here. Day League resources can be found here.
