On the Wrong Side Quotes

“To Camilla, the Nassar case made clear that, if you were the first person coming forward, the best anyone could hope for was that your betrayal might offer another survivor validation in the future.”
― Nicole Bedera, On the Wrong Side: How Universities Protect Perpetrators and Betray Survivors of Sexual Violence

“a survivor was pressured into dropping their complaint, then it became “their choice” to walk away. If administrators dismissed key evidence during an investigation, then it was proof the survivor “didn’t build a strong enough case.” If the complex bureaucracies around Title IX led a survivor to miss an email or use the wrong form or contact the wrong person, then “they went about things the wrong way.”
― Nicole Bedera, On the Wrong Side: How Universities Protect Perpetrators and Betray Survivors of Sexual Violence

“This meant that victim and perpetrator were both given an equal right to things like the school counseling center or extensions on academic assignments. They both had the right to move dorms, safety plan, or file a no-contact directive to keep the other party from speaking to or about them. They both had the right to know about the other’s academic schedule or get a refund on tuition for classes they failed and have those low grades removed from their transcript. When perpetrators asked for privileges originally created for survivors, they got them. Western University isn’t alone in taking this approach. According to a NASPA report,5 48 percent of schools provide “identical” support to survivors in the “complainant” role and perpetrators in the “respondent” role.6”
― Nicole Bedera, On the Wrong Side: How Universities Protect Perpetrators and Betray Survivors of Sexual Violence

“In reality, the vast majority of Title IX investigations have always ended in favor of the accused.”
― Nicole Bedera, On the Wrong Side: How Universities Protect Perpetrators and Betray Survivors of Sexual Violence

“The underlying message was this: if you want your report to impact a perpetrator’s career or education, you have to be willing to take a hit, too.”
― Nicole Bedera, On the Wrong Side: How Universities Protect Perpetrators and Betray Survivors of Sexual Violence

“Ultimately, victim advocates were in a difficult position. They understood the betrayals of the Title IX system better than any other administrator on campus, but they lacked the power to change anything. Instead, they were witnesses to the same predictable horrors, tasked with performing a delicate balancing act: how do you warn a survivor about a system designed to betray them without discouraging them from using it?”
― Nicole Bedera, On the Wrong Side: How Universities Protect Perpetrators and Betray Survivors of Sexual Violence

“Most schools fulfill this legal obligation by providing services that won’t involve a perpetrator, such as academic accommodations or healing resources. At Western University, victim advocates would broker agreements between survivors and their professors to get extensions on assignments or excused absences. They would also help survivors submit paperwork to receive refunds for classes they dropped or failed due to the strains of their traumatic symptoms. To improve survivors’ mental health, the Counseling Center hosted group therapy for sexual assault survivors and offered one-on-one counseling at a cheaper rate than the insurance co-pay at most private practices. Advocates also had a small fund available to cover survivors’ trauma-related expenses. Overwhelmingly, survivors who received these resources benefited from them. Some called them life-changing. However, few survivors felt comfortable actually using them. Especially more than once.”
― Nicole Bedera, On the Wrong Side: How Universities Protect Perpetrators and Betray Survivors of Sexual Violence

“Consequences are protective. They prioritize a victim’s safety, comfort, and healing. They intervene on patterns of abuse that will continue to harm others if left unchallenged. They also ensure that an act of sexual violence won’t continue to harm its victim over and over and over again as they navigate the fallout of someone else’s decision to hurt them. There are always consequences after an act of sexual violence. The question is who we ask to bear their burdens.”
― Nicole Bedera, On the Wrong Side: How Universities Protect Perpetrators and Betray Survivors of Sexual Violence