The Reality of Mandatory Reporting

Why mandatory reporting isn’t always helpful to survivors of sexual assault

By Angela Perez

Campus policy states that University employees must contact the campus Title IX office if they learn about instances of sexual assault. The policy’s intention is to take prompt and effective steps to end sexual violence, prevent the reoccurence, and help remedy the effects. While the policy can facilitate a safer and more caring environment for students, I believe mandatory reporting on campus should be handled differently. 

As someone who is a survivor of sexual assault, I know first-hand what a deeply traumatic and detrimental experience it is to be a victim of. I believe that if you confide in a professor or any other professional adult, it can easily become damaging for that trusted individual to report it to a practically impersonal office. Once reported, the Title IX office emails a survivor with resources, such as counseling or legal reporting. Reaching out with an email is very impersonal, especially because the survivor doesn’t know the office, and feels as an out for the trusted adult. Not only is this impersonal and a betrayal of trust, it also forces a survivor to take further steps when they may not be ready, contributing additional trauma and stress to an already incredibly strenuous situation. Rather than forcing employees to report sexual assault to the Title IX office, they should be trained to inform the survivor of resources available to help them cope with the trauma of the experience, such as the Aurora Center, and encourage them to contact the Title IX office; they should not make that decision for them. 

Survivors deserve the autonomy to decide for themselves how they want to cope and move forward—not anyone else. Undoubtedly, mandatory reporting is not intentionally harmful, and I’m grateful that there are policies to try and protect survivors. However, current policies may push survivors to cope with sexual assault at a faster pace or process that is unhealthy and ultimately unbeneficial to the individual.