The system colleges rely on to investigate allegations of sexual assault and rapes on campus is failing alleged victims and the accused alike, a special Post report can reveal.
asserted
report → rely → victims
Legal experts, alleged victims and accused students all told The Post that lives have been ruined by years of badly managed investigations, false allegations, and “equality” officers who lack proper training.
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who → allege → training
Under current Title IX regulations, federally funded colleges must address sexual harassment, violence, and retaliation claims through specialized Title IX offices and determine internal discipline based on evidence.
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colleges → fund → evidence
This was never part of the original 1972 Title IX legislation, signed into law to prevent sex-based discrimination in educational institutions.
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This → sign → institutions
In 2011, President Obama issued guidance expanding the definition to include instances of sexual violence.
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Obama → issue → violence
Then in 2020, President Trump introduced regulation requiring “live hearings” for complaints, much like a real court.
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Trump → introduce → court
It’s a limited system whose rules and regulations successive presidential administrations have repeatedly rewritten.
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administrations → ’ → rules
And it’s coming under even greater scrutiny following allegations that seven fraternity brothers at Cornell University drugged and gang-raped a student.
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brothers → come → student
One of the accused students later alleged in a lawsuit that a panel hearing member drove for roughly 45 minutes during live Zoom testimony from a “critical witness” to his defense and argued that her “repeated inattention” “irreparably compromised” the proceeding.
But beyond Cornell, students and experts point to several glaring problems with this equality-driven system, including Title IX officers with inadequate training, potential institutional bias, countercomplaints, and investigations that can drag on for months or years.
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that → accuse → months
Although all universities operate under the same federal law, they have considerable discretion over investigations, and the qualifications of the individuals handling them can vary enormously.
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qualifications → operate → them
Currently, no national professional license or standardized exam exists for Title IX investigators.
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license → exist → investigators
Required training lasts just a few days, is available to anyone regardless of background or prior experience, and can vary in depth and detail.
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training → last → depth
No minimum number of hours or frequency of the training is required.
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number → require → training
Yet these individuals make decisions that can alter students’ lives.
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that → make → lives
While federal rules have shifted throughout political eras, the complaints The Post examined span changing administrations and raise many of the same concerns: why investigators aren’t subject to more consistent oversight and ongoing training in the only system we have to protect students against sexual assault.
“Two schools can have identical facts in terms of a situation involving a sexual assault, but there can be different outcomes,” New York-based sexual assault attorney Megan Thomas told The Post.
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Thomas → shift → Post
“It was an eye for an eye”
Golda Daphna was a virgin when she reported a male student for allegedly raping and physically abusing her during her senior year at Columbia University in 2021.
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she → report → 2021
The former biomedical engineering major, now 27, grew up in an Orthodox Jewish community and intended to wait until marriage to have sex.
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major → grow → sex
Coming forward, she feared, could threaten her standing in that community.
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she → come → community
“For me to go out and to come out and say that I was raped and go to the police didn’t make me look good in my own community,” Daphna told The Post.
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Daphna → go → Post
“There was a lot that I had to lose.”
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I → be → that
But she filed a police report in December 2021, and police later found no probable cause to arrest.
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police → file → cause
She then reported the allegations to Columbia anyway, triggering a university investigation.
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She → report → investigation
What followed was a months-long tit-for-tat battle in which nearly every allegation she made was met with a countercomplaint — including what she described as retaliatory accusations that she had also sexually assaulted him.
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she → follow → him
One complaint even characterized her asking him for a hug as harassment.
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her → characterize → harassment
Under Title IX procedures, schools cannot simply disregard counter complaints because they come from the person already accused; they must assess allegations under the same process and afford both students comparable procedural rights—even if a police investigation discounts them.
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investigation → disregard → them
“It was really an eye for an eye,” Daphna said, describing a process she felt had become a mockery of the system meant to protect students.
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she → say → students
Even a no-contact order offered little comfort as the pair continued crossing paths around campus.
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pair → offer → campus
Though Daphna filed it, the no-contact order applies both ways.
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order → file → it
“I went to the kosher dining hall.
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I → go → hall
He was there so that I couldn’t eat there anymore,” she recalled.
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she → eat → ?
With graduation approaching and the investigation still unresolved, Daphna said officials encouraged mediation.
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officials → approach → mediation
She worried a lack of conclusion could jeopardize her diploma, which, under school policy, is subject to the school’s disciplinary authority.
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which → worry → authority
“I just wanted my life back,” she recalled.
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she → want → life
Exhausted and out of options, she ultimately signed a mutual release of claims and non-disparagement agreement, ending the dispute without a formal determination.
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she → sign → determination
“It was a lot of internal politics,” she said.
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she → say → politics
I really didn’t stand a chance.”
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I → stand → chance
Columbia declined to comment on Golda’s case, citing FERPA, but said it generally investigates cross-complaints alongside the original complaint and that retaliation is prohibited.
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retaliation → decline → complaint
The university also said students sign privacy agreements during investigations, but stressed those are not NDAs.
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those → say → investigations
“I asked for a hearing, we never got one”
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we → ask → one
At California’s Saddleback College, Aurora Knight believes university officials misread her son’s attempts at social interaction as threatening behavior and then gave administrators too much discretion in deciding his fate.
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officials → believe → fate
…and 67 more, not listed.
The Aporia
