Candiloro, Taelor (Utah State University)
Faculty Advisor: Glass-Coffin, Bonnie (College of Humanities and Social Sciences; Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Department)
Over the past ten years, a growing national discourse about the issue of campus sexual assault has led to an increase in quantitative studies that analyze its prevalence on campus as well as the effectiveness of campus policies that have been institutionalized in order to address the systemic issue. Policies that have emerged to describe sexual assault may use specialized vocabulary that appears distant from the terms used by survivors when self-identifying, which may result in unintended consequences when policies are implemented. Using Utah State University's campus resources as a site of inquiry, this study examines language used by Title IX officers at Utah State University as they describe sexual and interpersonal violence among themselves, when addressing the student body, and among sexual assault survivors. Developed as part of a course in Ethnographic Methods at Utah State University, this qualitative study attempts to provide insight into this dynamic. Through a mixed-methods approach including ethnographic interviews, auto-ethnographic accounts of the author's experiences attending and interacting with various campus institutions, and analyses of contemporary tools of data collection, a network of identity emerges that contributes to a better understanding of how sexual assault policies might be improved to articulate alongside survivor experiences.