TW, the following article contains mentions of sexual assault and harrasment.
Title IX, a federal civil rights law meant to prevent sexual discrimination, is designed to ensure a safe and equitable educational environment, yet its implementation at Whitman College has left many students feeling unsupported and alienated. The experiences of Daisy, and another unnamed student’s experiences paint a disheartening picture of institutional neglect, systemic bias, and an administrative focus on minimizing liability, reveal several systemic issues in Title IX handling at Whitman, and how many members the faculty and administration have made the situation worse being more invested in managing liability than in safeguarding its students.
Justice here is defined by power and wealth
Daisy* was only a few months into their first year at Whitman when a person they trusted sexually assaulted them. Initially, because they knew their perpetrator, Daisy said they struggled to come to terms with what had happened. “It felt like it was my fault for drinking and my fault that it happened and that it was just a misunderstanding. And then for the next few weeks, I acted like everything was normal, until I approached one of my friends and asked to confide in them about something I felt really uncomfortable with,” said Daisy, “it wasn’t until they openly said, [Daisy], that’s textbook sexual assault, rape, that I finally had to confront the reality of the situation.”
In the aftermath, Daisy spoke to Title IX Coordinator and Director of Equity and Compliance Cassandre Beccai. In their meeting, Daisy says Beccai highlighted the differences between an informal resolution and a formal investigation. It was then that Daisy expressed their concerns about her perpetrator’s family’s wealth, and any impacts that may have on their investigation. Daisy remembers feeling a distinct shift in Beccai’s responses after she expressed their concerns, in particular about how careful they would need to be going forward.
“I felt that there was more of an emphasis on the informal investigation once she found out that he had money and was wealthy,” said Daisy, “she was telling me that most formal investigations end up not finding a conclusion, and so the victim is at more fault and is perceived as wrong…after that conversation, I remember being really conflicted, because I’m listening to a Title IX ‘expert’. She knows what to do, and she’s steering me away from the formal investigation, because ‘she’ felt like it would not do me justice, or Whitman College justice either. This really highlights Whitman College’s disparity in pedestalizing wrongful individuals and students who pay the big buck.”
Upon reaching out to Beccai regarding concerns raised about the Title IX process, Beccai responded by emphasizing the office’s commitment to handling all cases with “equal rigor, fairness, and care” and affirmed that their office takes all reported violations seriously and addresses them according to protocols which are designed to protect all members of our [Whitman] community.
The administrative failures didn’t end there. Daisy pursued a no-contact order to safeguard their space on campus, yet the Title IX office’s enforcement proved ineffectual. Their perpetrator violated the order multiple times, showing up at social spaces where Daisy was present. Despite their repeated complaints to the office, each violation was met with the same response – a “talking to” for the perpetrator proving how the administration in their case, and for many others, has intentionally not been taking strict measures just because of the perpetrators’ monetary influence.
Exhausted by the lack of action, Daisy reluctantly agreed to pursue an informal resolution, a process mediated by a male facilitator. This dynamic added another layer of discomfort, forcing Daisy to negotiate terms with their perpetrator through someone they felt couldn’t fully empathize with their experience. The process became moot when their perpetrator left Whitman, prompting the Title IX office to drop Daisy’s case entirely, along with their no-contact order.
“It felt like they were just forgetting that anything had ever happened,” Daisy said. Left to navigate the social fallout, Daisy found themself ostracized by their peers, many of whom accepted their perpetrator’s false narratives. The resulting alienation, combined with Whitman’s failure to provide meaningful support, left Daisy questioning whether they could remain at a college that had failed them so profoundly.
A Senior’s Fight Against Harassment and Neglect
For another student, now a senior, the Title IX process was equally fraught with delays and mismanagement. During their freshman year, they endured repeated harassment from a student who had a known history of misconduct. The perpetrator groped and touched the student without consent, often forcing physical proximity by climbing onto their lap or wrapping their legs around them. Attempts to address the behavior through Residential Life were dismissed outright, leaving the student and other victims with no choice but to escalate the issue to Title IX. It has thus not only been the Title IX administrators who have failed, but the entire system of Whitman College, who claim to provide a safe space for students.
Administrative turnover delayed the investigation for months, forcing the student into a prolonged state of fear and anxiety. A no-contact order was eventually issued but proved ineffective. In a baffling move, the Title IX office allowed the perpetrator to respond directly to the order via email, blaming the victims and causing further emotional distress. “I was told to find my own attorney if I wanted to speak out about what happened,” the student said. “They reassured us that what happened wasn’t our fault, but they didn’t stop the person we reported from blaming us.”
As the investigation dragged on, the student was pressured by the admin to avoid a formal resolution. They were told it was unnecessary since the perpetrator wouldn’t return to Whitman the following year, which itself is an extremely unethical and predatory, and in fact illegal response to provide to a victim, who has been dealing with emotional distress. Worn down by months of inaction, the student reluctantly agreed to an informal resolution. However, promises made during the process – such as providing access to the perpetrator’s course schedule to avoid encounters – were never fulfilled.
The following school year, the student discovered that the perpetrator had returned to campus. The Title IX office failed to notify them, leaving them to encounter their harasser without warning. The student’s mental health deteriorated further as they grappled with panic attacks and a growing sense of distrust in the institution. “Recalling this story has stopped hurting significantly,” the student said, “but it still hurts knowing I was told I was being supported while I wasn’t.”
Daisy and the senior’s experiences reveal the systemic shortcomings of Whitman’s Title IX process. Survivors who turn to the office for justice and protection are met with delays, weak enforcement of protective measures, and pressure to settle for informal resolutions that often fail to provide closure. In both cases, Whitman’s approach not only failed to hold perpetrators accountable but also left survivors to navigate their trauma with little institutional support.
Whitman’s failure to act decisively or compassionately sends a troubling message to survivors: their safety and justice are secondary to the institution’s convenience. Daisy and the senior’s stories are a call to action for the college to confront its systemic failures, ensure timely and transparent investigations, and for us all students to continue demanding action and not letting an individual’s experience go unheard.
*Daisy is a pseudonym to protect source anonymity
Correction 12/12: A previous version of this article categorized this in the feature section of the Wire. Per review of its content this article has been re-categorized to the Opinion Section.
