The U.S. Department of Education recently issued a new guidance that approves of the use of trauma-informed methods on college campuses. Titled Questions and Answers on the Title IX Regulations on Sexual Harassment, the document says that a school “may use trauma-informed approaches to respond to a formal complaint of sexual harassment.” (Question 28)

THIS IS NOT GOOD.

Courts have issued numerous decisions that decry the use of biased investigative methods. In the recently decided Doe v. Hobart and William Smith Colleges case, the court ruled against the institution, citing the plaintiff’s allegations that the investigator used a trauma-informed approach that:

• Altered or excluded key information provided by the accused student.
• Allowed the complainant — but not the accused student — to change her story to account for statements made by the accused.
• Did not mention the existence of the video taken 20-30 minutes before the alleged assault showing the complainant to be awake, alert, and fully oriented.
• Afterwards, destroyed the audio recordings of the interviews.

Please contact the Dept. of Education NOW, tell them what you think (politely) about its endorsement of guilt-presuming trauma-informed methods. Please contact them now: Email: ocr@ed.gov

Sincerely,

Edward Bartlett