Tiffany Reese

National guidance makes clear that, except in situations covered by mandatory reporting laws, the decision to involve law enforcement belongs to the patient, not the hospital and not the clinician.

During these exams, providers may offer medical treatment such as STI prevention or emergency contraception, depending on the survivor's needs and wishes.

Still, many survivors never seek medical care at all, often because they fear losing control over what happens next, or because they worry that seeking help will automatically trigger a police investigation.

Only a small percentage of survivors move forward into formal reporting systems.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics analysis of the National Crime Victimization Survey shows that among female college students, about 20% of sexual assaults were reported to police.

Campus-based reporting is similarly limited.

Large university surveys indicate that only about one quarter of survivors make contact with a campus or community support resource of any kind.

And contacting a resource does not necessarily mean filing a formal Title IX complaint.

For survivors who do reach out to the Title IX office, the process they enter is separate from the criminal legal system, even when both are unfolding at the same time.

Title IX offices may coordinate with campus or local law enforcement when a survivor chooses to pursue criminal charges or when they request safety measures such as no-contact directives.

But these systems operate independently, often with different timelines, different standards of proof, and very different definitions of accountability.

Within the Title IX system itself, survivors are typically presented with two paths.

Option one is a formal grievance process, an investigation governed by federal regulations involving written notice, evidence review, interviews, and a determination regarding responsibility.

The Department of Education requires schools to move through this process within what it calls reasonably prompt timeframes, though what that looks like can vary widely from campus to campus.

The other option is informal resolution, a voluntary structured alternative that may include agreements such as restrictions on contact, educational requirements, or other remedies.

Federal guidance makes clear that survivors can generally withdraw from this process at any point before a final agreement is reached.

At every stage, survivors are asked to make decisions, often quickly, while navigating trauma, institutional rules, and processes that were not designed with their healing as the primary priority.

And for many survivors, the most defining part of the Title IX process is not resolution or accountability, but the isolation they experience while moving through it.

I'm Tiffany Reese, and this is Something Was Wrong.

Well, and I imagine that he had access to you and how distressing that is too because you literally live in the same building.