In this episode of Real Talk, KJK Student Defense Attorneys Susan Stone and Kristina Supler are joined by Carly Boyd, a domestic relations attorney.  In this episode, they talk about the effects of a recent Department of Justice Investigation at Case Western Reserve University will have on student life.  They discuss the biggest misperceptions students have around Title IX issues, why students don't report harassment cases in both Greek organizations and Sports Teams, and what triggers most harassment cases.

Show Notes:

(04:31 )  Biggest Misperceptions Students Have with TitleIX and Other Issues
(05:28 )  The Reaction to the DOJ Sexual Conduct Investigation at Case University
(08:41 )  Why More Students Don’t Come Forward
(11:32 )  Why Athletes Don’t Report Harassment
(14:08 )  What Lies at the Heart of Most Harassment Claims
(15:32 )  Is Bystander Intervention Training Effective?
(16:46 )  Carly’s Advice for Students this New Academic Year

Transcript:

Susan Stone: So Kristina, last week we just received a copy of the resolution agreement between the federal government and Case Western Reserve University. And for our listeners out there, Case is right in our backyard. It's where I went to law school. And apparently the Department of Justice conducted an investigation of the university's response to reports of claims by student on student and employee on student sexual harassment between the years of 2017 and 18, 20 and 21. So right smack in the pandemic.

There were a lot of interviews were conducted with a whole host of administrators. And in particular, I couldn't help but notice there was a lot of interviews and roundtables that were facilitated with Interfraternity Council and the Women's Health Center and a lot of Greek organizations.

Kristina Supler: Yeah, it was really interesting report to read, Susan. And I was surprised to see the report come out. I think a real upside to this is that Case is committed to strengthening its strength. It's training in response to programs associated with reports of sexual assault or harassment. 

Susan Stone: Exactly, because the Case is actually rolling out it's a whole entire program called It's on CWRU, which is a violence prevention campaign. And it'll be interesting to see how that impacts Greek culture and hazing in general. 

Kristina Supler: There's a lot of new obligations in that resolution agreement that the university is committed to. But also that fall on members of Greek life and,for example, sororities and fraternities have to disclose to the chapter when there's internal investigations of sexual misconduct. There's new operating protocols. And I'm really curious to hear more about how this is going to play out on campus, day to day realities.

Susan Stone: We are so lucky because our very own Carly Boyd, our partner, might have some inside scoop. 

Kristina Supler: Welcome Carly. We're pleased to be joined by Carly Boyd. She's a skilled domestic relations attorney who has been working in that field for over a decade and she's in the firms here at KJK family law practice group. And Carly, you might be thinking, why are you having a domestic relations attorney on this podcast. But Carly is actually a former advisor to the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority at Case Western Reserve. 

And so she's here today to just talk with us about this resolution agreement and looking to the future, what it means for Greek life. So welcome, Carly. 

Carly Boyd: Welcome, Ladies. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here and talk about this. 

Susan Stone: Yeah. Carly, just tell us to start, what do you do or what did you do? Because I know you just stepped down in July for, and can I call the Alpha Gamma Delta the Alpha Gams? Is that correct? 

Carly Boyd: Yeah, that's Okay. I was their chapter wellness advisor from 2018 to just this past summer. Case Western just added Alpha Gam in 2018. It was a new chapter for them, which was really exciting. Just, like Susan and I went to Case Western for law school and I was really excited to combine my passion for Alpha Gam at Case. 

And so in a sorority and a fraternity, they have a main chapter advisor. And then there was a bunch of different ones to help with the different directors. So I was there to assist with the director as they needed me. The chapter wellness kind of focuses on membership on activities and really just being there for retention of members was where I was at. They didn't need me all the time, but there was issues I could be there as a guidance and as a true advisor for them.

Kristina Supler: So you were really, in the trenches having contact with the students. I'm curious to hear, Carly, based on your experience working with the students, what do you see as the biggest, misperception or misunderstanding among students about issues like Title IX or maybe hazing and other student conduct issues?

Carly Boyd: Yeah, I think, when it comes to the Greek life and the misperceptions and what people think of, it's all bad. It's all hazing, and it's all drinking. It's all, Just horrible stories that come out of the Greek life. And I think there's a balance between there's a really good of Greek life, benefits.

When it comes to Title IX, I think people mainly look to like men and women's sports or inequality in that way. I don't know if people outside of your practice, understand the larger implications of what Title IX means on a campus and that it goes down into sexual harassment and misconduct and on those deeper levels. when I was thinking about this, I do believe just the idea of a Title IX investigation, do people understand how.

What that really means in a detail of what they were looking into. 

Susan Stone: When you read the resolution agreement, what are your impressions?

Carly Boyd: I'm surprised that these things weren't happening already. It was my first thought. Really? I just, I think of this day and age of just trainings and so many things that we have to do as professionals. That I'm surprised that just certain annual trainings and reports weren't happening already. And I do believe that my experience with my chapters, they were doing those things that were very on top of providing resources, mandatory trainings.

And so maybe I was just surprised that wasn't on a higher level happening at the university. I'm glad 

Susan Stone: to see that. We don't know. I happen to believe that it probably was happening. But we don't know all the backstory. We're only looking at the resolution agreement. 

Kristina Supler: Yeah, Carly, I'm interested to hear, since you seem to have some surprise when you read this, in some ways this is a whole bunch of nothing.

Shouldn't, wasn't this already going on? What do you see realistically to be in terms of likely impact on Greek life, starting this academic year? 

Carly Boyd: I hope there's a big impact and implication and how people feel in the Greek community. I hope they feel protected and heard through all these things.

I don't know if there'll be a change in the actual work that needs to be done. If they were already doing their local chapters, we're already requiring annual trainings. The Navy doesn't change their day today. For, my chapter, you had to do certain trainings for the whole chapter to be in good standing and you had a report in it.

And that's been like that for years internationally. Isn't that? Wasn't just a case Western thing. So I would hope that on a day today. The chapters are used to when you get new members, you educate them, you're doing these regular trainings. If they weren't, I'm looking forward to seeing how that could be implemented and that it's a positive effect in the community.

Just because you do these trainings, though,