Wearing Two Hats: Unique Challenges Faced by Graduate Students in Navigating Title IX Procedures as Students and Employees.

Abstract

For graduate students, wearing two hats is a part of the graduate education experience by being responsible for overseeing undergraduate students in research/teaching roles as employees and being students themselves, mentored by faculty members. These multifaceted roles taken on by graduate students have received relatively minimal research regarding sex-based discrimination and sexual violence incidents, which are reportable under Title IX. Our research questions encompassed what barriers graduate students faced in reporting to Title IX, as well as graduate students' experiences reporting Title IX incidents and their suggestions for improvement to the process. Our study addresses these gaps via semi-structured focus groups and individual interviews with 22 graduate students at one University. Our results revealed that graduate students faced sexual violence along with sex-based harassment and discrimination perpetrated by peers and faculty. While some incidents were unreported due to a lack of clarity and transparency in policies, those who reported often had unsatisfactory experiences regardless of the entity they reported to, including the Title IX office. This project has implications for developing educational campaigns and improving resource supports for graduate students navigating institutional processes pertaining to sexual violence as both an employee and a student.