Earlier this year in March, University of Oregon professor Jennifer Freyd was invited to the White House to discuss the research on sexual violence she had been doing for two decades.
“The current momentum in the White House and other parts of the federal government on the issue of campus sexual assault is remarkable,” Freyd said. “I have been researching sexual violence for 22 years and I have not seen anything even remotely like what I am seeing happen at the White House now. It is gives me great hope that some fundamental change for good will be upon us soon.”
While at the White House, Freyd took part in new guidelines that look at battling sexual violence on college campuses. Freyd was able to discuss her expertise and research on the topic related to the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault.
Freyd, with graduate students Marina Rosenthal and Carly Smith, has been working to look at institutional betrayal and betrayal blindness.
Institutional betrayal looks at how someone may feel some sort of “betrayal” committed by a school that they are dependent on. This can include not receiving the attention they need after an individual harms them.
Betrayal blindness looks at how a person will be unaware of the existing betrayal in order to “preserve” the relationships they may have with the institution or perpetrator that betrayed them.
Freyd first introduced the topic of betrayal blindness in 1990 and later expanded on the topic in 1996.
In 2013, Freyd along side UO instructor Pamela Birrell released a book titled Blind to Betrayal. It looks at the reader and studies their questions on betrayal and betrayal blindness.
Rosenthal is currently looking at employee knowledge and their role as reporters under Title IX, or mandatory sexual assault reporting.
All professors, GTFs and staff members are required to do mandatory training on how to handle situations where students disclose information to them about sexual assaults.
Within college campuses it is very common for staff members to get information disclosed to them by students about their experiences with sexual violence.
Rosenthal is looking at how equipped staff members are with sexual assault and how they can report to the right people while also getting the correct resources to the student.
“Do employees know that they are mandatory reporters, because they are, and what does that entail?” Rosenthal said. “Do they know what to do if a student should disclose sexual assault to them?”
Rosenthal’s research is showing that the mandatory training is not having the intended effect that it should be having on staff.
Rosenthal’s research is still within its preliminary stages and has yet to be published.
Smith is looking at the crime alert emails that students get from University of Oregon Police Department. She has had conversations with the UOPD to discuss crime alerts and whether we should be getting emails about students who are being sexually assaulted by someone that they know.
Smith said by looking at institutional betrayal students feel the greatest betrayal when they seek comfort in the university, but do not receive any support back.
“Students trust the university to keep them safe and when it fails, it hurts everyone,” Smith said.