The informal resolution process is the second type of resolution process available in the Title IX process. The informal resolution process does not involve a full investigation and adjudication procedure. An informal resolution route is only available if both parties, the respondent and complainant, give their written consent to participate in the informal resolution route. An official Title IX complaint is required in order to initiate the Title IX process whether you would like to take the formal or informal resolution route. To learn how to file an official Title IX complaint, please read our previous article on the formal resolution process.
After an official Title IX complaint is made, the college can offer an informal Title IX resolution on a case-by-case basis. The informal resolution process is not available in cases of quid pro quo harassment where there is a difference in the power dynamics between parties such as a relationship between a professor and a student. Participation in the informal resolution process is completely voluntary, and consent to participate can be withdrawn at any time throughout the process.
Types of Informal Resolution
There are three different informal resolution processes that CC offers:
Facilitated communication- The Title IX Coordinator, Deputy Title IX Coordinator, or other designated official may facilitate communication with the respondent where the complainant should not communicate directly with the respondent.
Mediation- the reporting party and the respondent may discuss and attempt to resolve the matter informally with the assistance of a person the College designates as the mediator.
Restorative Justice Conference- provides the harmed parties and others with an opportunity to confront the offender, express their feelings, ask questions, and have a say in the outcome. Offenders hear firsthand how their behavior has affected people. Offenders may choose to participate in a conference and begin to repair the harm they have caused by apologizing, making amends, and agreeing to personal or community service work. Conferences hold offenders accountable while providing them with an opportunity to discard the “offender” label and be reintegrated into their community, school, or workplace (Rutgers University).
If at any point either party does not feel as if the informal resolution process is successful in resolving the complaint, there can be a switch to the formal resolution process where the college conducts its own investigation and adjudication.
A timeline of the process
Before proceeding with an informal resolution process, the college will provide written notice to both parties. The notice will contain the allegations and the requirements of the informal resolution process. The notice will inform the parties that all communications concerning and during the informal resolution process will be kept confidential in the event that the parties withdraw from the informal resolution process and proceed with the investigative procedures.
After a choice of three informal resolution options is made, the college will appoint and provide a facilitator or mediator to participate in the conference to ensure that both parties are being heard and respected equally.
A decision on responsibility will not be made as part of the informal resolution process. The wishes of the parties will govern the outcome of the informal resolution process. Additionally, the College will seek to ensure that the parties’ agreeable outcome is targeted at stopping the alleged misconduct.
Why the informal resolution process?
The informal resolution process is useful in several different capacities. First and foremost, it is important to recognize that Title IX in itself can be problematic because it increases an institution’s power to adjudicate and punish respondents, and often times that can disproportionately affect people of color, specifically Black men. There have been ongoing conversations about the increase in institutional power potentially wrongfully harming people of color by giving the school the power to remove students on a lower standard of evidence than what is used in a criminal case. These dynamics are heightened at predominately white institutions like CC. Title IX has a specific subsection called "Emergency Removal" which gives an institution the ability to remove a respondent prior to the conclusion of a Title IX investigation if they are deemed a threat to the safety and well-being of the school community. Given the harmful narratives ingrained in white supremacist culture that BIPOC people are inherently "dangerous" or "violent", the formal resolution process under school bureaucracy can reinforce institutional racism. The informal resolution route allows students agency and control in their own resolution process that is further removed from the authority of the institution.
Additionally, it is important to acknowledge that not all survivors have the same relationship with systems of power like the school administration or the police. In a formal resolution process, survivors must give interviews and testimony on their story which already involves shame and fear for many survivors. These circumstances are further exacerbated by the systemic failure to believe the stories of and protect Black and Indigenous women. BIPOC survivors are also vulnerable to higher rates of retaliation throughout the reporting process. LGBTQ+ survivors are additionally vulnerable to being outed to family members during an investigation procedure if mandatory reporting is involved.
Finally, adjudication in Title IX is rooted in a punitive framework focused on harming and limiting respondents in order to create accountability/responsibility for their actions. There are very limited sanctioning measures listed in the CC code that allow offenders to seek therapy, rehabilitation programs, and acknowledgment of the consequences of their wrongdoing. Instead of attempting to rehabilitate offenders back into productive members of society without re-offending, the focus remains on creating a permanent label as an offender and a danger to society. The informal resolution process can allow willing participants to seek restorative justice to simultaneously hold offenders accountable for their actions while also doing work to be reintegrated into the community.
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