Symbolic Compliance and Student Concerns: Legal Endogeneity and Title IX at American Colleges and Universities

Abstract

This article considers how American colleges and universities responded to rapid legal change around Title IX immediately following the 2011 release of the Office for Civil Rights’ Dear Colleague Letter. By analyzing the content of 250 campus sexual harassment policies, this article finds that contrary to the predictions of the employment discrimination literature, which suggests that the largest, most visible institutions in a field are the most likely to embed markers of symbolic compliance in their formal policies, small baccalaureate colleges are more likely to include references to the law in their formal documents than their research university peers do. To understand this intriguing finding, the article then analyzes 15 interviews with campus administrators at research universities and baccalaureate colleges to uncover the distinct logics of symbolic compliance and student concerns that differentially inform how actors at different kinds of institutions inhabit their roles and endogenously interpret new Title IX regulations in their formal policies and campus practices. In doing so, this article illuminates the ways in which processes of legal endogeneity differ across institution types within the broader field of higher education.

Symbolic and substantive compliance communication about pregnant students’ rights and access to services among Texas public postsecondary institutions.

“…Symbolic compliance has been a starting point to examine institutional commitments to meeting Title IX obligations in colleges and universities (Bedera, 2022). Gualtieri (2020) examined symbolic compliance of Title IX interpretations based on the 2011 Dear Colleague Letter about sexual harassment and sexual violence at 250 colleges and universities. She found that institutions used symbolic compliance in ways that differed based on institutional factors.…”

“…Students search for information on college and university websites for a variety of topics including sexual harassment policies (Gualtieri, 2020), tuition and cost of attendance (Davis et al, 2019), and sexual assault information (Champlin et al, 2017). Studies have examined the use of websites to communicate information, including Title IX information, to students.…”

“…Dunlap et al (2018) examined “the gap between the policy information institutions provide on gender-based violence and the accessibility of the resource information to students who are searching for support online” (p. 442). Gualtieri (2020) examined sexual harassment policies after the 2011 Office of Civil Rights’ Dear Colleague Letter . In both cases, the institutional websites were important repositories of documentation that could be examined.…”

The illusion of choice: Organizational dependency and the neutralization of university sexual assault complaints

“…In these ways, the symbolic use of sexual harassment trainings is not merely ineffective but actively undermines the goals of civil rights laws. While interventions specific to campus sexual violence are relatively recent, there is already evidence emerging that university interventions have been symbolic in nature (Gualtieri, 2020) and have created industry‐wide norms that are ineffective in adjudicating sexual violence and harmful to survivors (Cruz, 2020).…”

Impact of Anti-Discrimination Laws on University Campuses: Student and Faculty Views

“…Historically, universities have been battlegrounds for social change, often ahead of broader societal shifts. The influence of anti-discrimination laws, whether U pertaining to race, gender, disability, or other protected statuses, ostensibly contributes to a more equitable campus environment (Gualtieri, 2020). However, as noted by Gualtieri (2020), the practical enforcement of these laws sometimes results in what he terms "symbolic compliance," where institutions appear to adhere to legal standards without fostering substantial changes in campus culture.…”