Content warning: This story contains testimony and themes surrounding sexual assault.
As an institution that receives federal funding, Colorado College is subject to federal Title IX regulations, which govern everything under the umbrella of gender equality, including discrimination, sexual harassment and sexual assault on college campuses. Title IX policy outlines formal procedures for investigating allegations of sexual misconduct and the establishment of supportive measures to help students affected by this kind of violence.
And yet some students, faculty and even a representative of the Title IX office have indicated that its flaws render it ineffective in protecting alleged victims.
It is an office that operates under federal jurisdiction. David Jensen, Assistant Vice President of Civil Rights and Title IX, said, “We are handcuffed by the requirements of the regulations.”
Director of College Transition Programs Jarred Wiehe explained that because it is strictly an administrative and adjudicative body, “Title IX functionally cannot work as harm reduction, restorative justice, redress and care.”
According to Wiehe, the issue is not that Title IX is failing to protect students, but that protecting students was never its job in the first place.
The college’s Chief Financial Officer, Lori Seager, said in a statement, “[federal] requirements define certain procedural steps we are legally obligated to follow. However, within that framework, the College intentionally exceeds the minimum requirements by offering additional support resources, broader reporting pathways and campus-based processes that are not required under the regulations but that provide enhanced support to our community.”
Alexa Gromko, director of the media relations program, directed The Catalyst to Seager’s office for comment, saying “the Title IX Office falls under her purview at CC.”
Title IX regulations delineate a process for the filing of formal complaints that involves an extensive investigation and a hearing where evidence is presented and witnesses interviewed.
“We don’t get a lot of cases that turn into either investigations or into cases where an individual is found responsible,” Jensen said.
Jensen believes that the previous Trump administration’s changes to hearing procedures have negatively impacted student desire to pursue formal complaints.
“There is a need to provide due process, but the way that it is set up right now, it really has pushed down the numbers for every institution,” said Jensen. “Every higher education system has seen a drop in investigations that have occurred after the 2020 regulations have gone into place.”
Wiehe said that the Wellness Resource Center and Campus Advocate are the best resources for emotional support, as it does not fall within the responsibility of the Title IX office.
“[Title IX] just can’t operate like that because of its larger national context,” said Wiehe, who went on to state that the office’s job is to ensure that the college’s actions do not go against federal anti-discrimination policy.
Seager’s statement continues, “Our Title IX office works collaboratively with Campus Safety, the Counseling Center, the Student Health Center, HR, Athletics and confidential support resources to ensure that individuals who report sexual misconduct are met with compassion and a clear explanation of available options.”
Wiehe recommended a book by queer theorist Jennifer Doyle on the subject, titled “Campus Sex, Campus Security,” which delves into the purpose and operating procedure of Title IX.
“Doyle’s point is that [the Title IX office] is always already about keeping the campus safe, not the student safe,” said Wiehe. “It also can’t be preventative in similar ways like bystander intervention training because harm has to happen first and then the office has to reply.”
According to Doyle’s book, Title IX is not an arbiter of justice and instead serves an explicitly political role in protecting the college from criticism.
In order to find someone guilty of a policy violation—the purpose of the office is to rule on policy violations according to strict federal definitions, not necessarily to bring justice to the alleged victim—the complainant in a case must present a “preponderance of evidence.” The standard used at CC requires 50.1% proof of a violation, according to Jensen.
In documents provided to The Catalyst regarding one reported case of alleged sexual assault that took place in September of 2024, the decision maker assigned to make a ruling on the case deemed that the alleged assaulter was not liable, as the case did not meet the “preponderance of evidence.”
The case came down to a discrepancy between what the Complainant (alleged victim) said happened and the version of events provided by the Respondent (alleged perpetrator).
According to a Notice of Decision in this specific case, after an almost seven-month investigation and a hearing between the two involved parties and advisors provided to them by the Title IX office, a non-CC-affiliated decision maker determined in April 2025 that “there is insufficient evidence to find Respondent responsible for violating the Policy.”
Until this year, the sole arbitrator in Title IX cases was an external legal professional with no other ties to the college. The decision-making process has since been revised to include a panel of three trained CC faculty and staff members who evaluate the evidence to determine whether or not the policy has been violated. The process was revised following student and staff surveys.
Seager stated, “Colorado College continuously reviews and strengthens our policies, training, and prevention efforts to reflect evolving best practices and the needs of our students.”
The determination in this case said that “the issue of Complainant’s consent is immaterial” as the Nondiscrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy stated that the “person who initiates sexual activity or moves an encounter from one sexual activity to another is responsible for obtaining consent of the other before proceeding.”
Because the Complainant allegedly initiated kissing, the office determined that the Respondent did not need to obtain consent before escalating the encounter. The Complainant stated in the report that she then became unconscious due to alcohol consumption, although the Respondent stated that she was not.
The 2024 Campus Safety and Fire Report says that it is a violation of CC policy “to engage in sexual activity or contact with another person if it is determined that the person knew or should reasonably have known that the other person was not able to give active consent due to substantial impairment based on drugs, alcohol, or any other physical or mental conditions or impairment.”
According to the case determination, “The safest course of action when an individual is intoxicated is to refrain from engaging in sexual activity. The policy also makes it clear that incapacitation is more than intoxication and drunkenness.”
The ruling released by the decision maker states that, “While there is ample evidence that Complainant was intoxicated, it is unclear whether her level of intoxication made her incapacitated. Nonetheless, because I conclude that the only sexual contact likely to have occurred that evening was kissing the Complainant initiated, it is irrelevant whether she had capacity to consent to sexual activity.”
The Complainant said officials within the Title IX office “were very dismissive and talked down to me numerous times.”
In response to this comment, Jensen said, “We understand the regulatory process can be perceived as dismissive by the parties involved and we are constantly working on improving that process by having discussions about supportive measures. We want to ensure that our students know we are responsive to feedback.”
One office that is tasked with emotionally supporting students who have experienced sexual assault or harassment is the Campus Advocate. After being vacant for over a year, CC filled the position with Molly Becker in late September.
Speaking generally, Becker explained in an interview that “when we don’t believe [victims], we are perpetuating that stigma and perpetuating an unsafe culture where those behaviors are accepted.”
Dismissing allegations of sexual violence can create a culture of ignorance and have adverse physical effects on alleged victims, she said. “Believing in survivors is everything,” she said. “[Victims] can start to develop eating disorders, depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts.”
Doyle’s book, recommended by Wiehe, said that Title IX cases are not about the violation of a survivor’s bodily autonomy, but about the violation of campus and federal policy. Thus, these conversations are “usually administered as a conflict between the victim and the assailant, as if (for example) a rape resulted from a failure to negotiate. People treat the relationship between the accuser and the accused as a conflict that might be mediated.”
Colorado College’s 2024 Safety, Security and Fire Report shows that incidents of rape doubled from two reported cases in 2023 to four in 2024.
Data from the American Association of University Women shows that 89% of campuses have disclosed zero rapes, despite the statistic that one in five female students will experience sexual violence on campus.
In 2022, The Catalyst reported that CC had under-reported rape in its annual release. Both Title IX Coordinator Josh Iringhausen and Head of Campus Safety Cathy Buckley stated at the time that existing reports tend to be underestimates due to strict criteria about what constitutes rape, as well as victims’ willingness to come forward.
The last time CC published a Sexual Assault Campus Climate Survey was in 2017. The survey assessed the scope of sexual misconduct on campus.
Of the female respondents, 41% of seniors, 21% of juniors, 21% of sophomores and 10% of first years had experienced some form of sexual assault. Male respondents reported sexual assault at rates of 19% for seniors, 14% for juniors, 12% for sophomores and 7% for first years.
A 2023 nationwide report indicated that only 6% of student victims told campus or local police about their experiences, while another study from the American Psychological Association estimated that 90% of assaults on campus went unreported. That same study found that campus sexual assault makes up the biggest proportion of total on-campus crimes in the United States, accounting for around 43% of all reported crimes.
One student, who asked to remain anonymous to protect her friend, said she reached out to the Title IX office on behalf of someone who had been raped in order to learn more about the process of filing a complaint. She said she was told that the victim could pursue two courses of action. First, she could file an informal complaint, which would involve a documented conversation with the responding party, i.e., her alleged rapist. The other option would be to file a formal complaint and initiate a full investigation into whether or not school policy was violated.
This student said the alleged victim did not pursue a case because she did not believe it would end in meaningful justice. She said that her friend told her that, prior to coming to CC, she had experienced sexual violence and it had been swept under the rug.
“She doesn’t have any trust in the law enforcement system at all, in whatever form that it takes,” the student said. “It’s the administration’s job to build trust and to make sure that students feel safe coming to them,” a promise she said she feels they are failing to uphold.
According to Wiehe, as a result of the office’s formal nature, some students are turning to other on-campus crisis resources, including Ty Nagamatsu of Ombuds and Becker.
Becker is a confidential resource supporting students affected by sexual violence.
“Confidentiality is super important because whenever we have had something traumatic happen to us, we deserve a safe space,” she said. “One without expectations, pressures, judgments [and] with somebody who’s trained to listen to these types of things.”
Becker wants to ensure that survivors know what their options are, stating, “Anyone who comes in my office, they are the driver, and I just have the map.”
Through a combination of emotional guidance and educational resources, Becker can provide the kind of holistic support that some might incorrectly seek from the Title IX office.
“Colorado College is firmly committed to fostering a safe, respectful, and supportive environment for all members of our campus community,” Seager said in her statement. “When the College receives a report of sexual assault or any form of sexual misconduct, we follow a comprehensive response protocol designed to prioritize student safety, provide access to support resources, and ensure a fair and equitable process for all parties involved.”
The ultimate goal of Becker’s office is “to empower and to say, something that happened to you is not your entire makeup, your entire value as a human and your contribution to this life.”
Becker is currently conducting an anonymous, voluntary survey of the student body regarding sexual misconduct on campus.
This is the first time a survey like this has been conducted in eight years.