‘I feel like you’ve failed me.’ Winthrop changes don’t resolve larger sexual assault issue

Cailyn Derickson
·15 min read

'No Means No'

Rhianna Rausch asked Winthrop officials in 2020 to open a Title IX investigation into her alleged sexual assault. Three years later, her ordeal remains unresolved. But she found out she’s not alone. This is The Herald’s special investigation “No Means No.”

Rhianna Rausch looked through an expansive administrative building window onto Winthrop University’s campus green.

She did not want to be there.

About two years earlier, Rausch had been in the same office, looking out the same window. She had met with the same university official and told him the same painful story of how she was sexually assaulted in 2019 near the campus in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Despite all that, there she was, on a sunny day in August 2021 — ready to risk the same pain by sharing the same story again.

“I didn’t want to have to go back into his office again,” Rausch told The Herald. “At that point, I don’t think I could hide any upset feelings I had.”

Rausch said she reported her alleged assault in 2020 to Anthony Davis, Winthrop’s Interim Dean of Students, and asked him to complete a Title IX investigation. But according to documents Rausch gave to The Herald, Davis’ investigation focused only on the Pi Kappa Alpha (also known as PIKE) fraternity house party that Rausch attended. The investigation concluded the actions of the fraternity, which her alleged assailant was a part of, did not warrant punishment.

The investigation summary, which Rausch provided to The Herald, said nothing about the alleged sexual assault.

Rausch tried to leave the investigation in her past, despite her biggest questions going unanswered and her alleged assailant unpunished. In 2021, she learned she wasn’t the only student disappointed by what they felt was Winthrop’s botched efforts to investigate sexual misconduct claims. And that inspired her to again pursue an explanation.

She tried to get it over email, but Rausch said Davis insisted they meet in person.

So on Aug. 5, 2021, Rausch, with her partner, Milo Wolverton, met with Davis for a second time to discuss the outcome of the investigation. Rausch provided The Herald with what she said is an audio recording of the meeting. She said the voice in the recording is Davis.

In a statement, Winthrop said it cannot confirm these recordings or “authenticate the contents thereof” because “the alleged recordings of any grievance proceeding meetings would not have been produced and released in accordance with institutional policy and procedures,” per Winthrop’s Title IX coordinator Kevin Sheppard.

Throughout the meeting, Rausch said she stared out the window. She said she couldn’t look at Davis.

“I felt mentally exhausted,” Rausch said. “But I also felt like if I didn’t go to the meeting then I wouldn’t get any of the answers I needed, so I didn’t really have much of a choice.”

In the recording, Davis explained that Rausch’s assault did not meet criteria for a Title IX investigation because her alleged assailant, although he was a part of the fraternity, was not enrolled in classes at Winthrop when the alleged assault happened. Therefore, the school did not have jurisdiction over him.

Davis, in the recording, said he, instead, completed a student organization investigation.

However, based on the university’s sexual misconduct policy and federal Title IX guidance, Winthrop had the authority to investigate Rausch’s claim as a Title IX case.

“This was them being like, ‘We’re going to do something, but we’re actually not going to do anything,’” Sage Carson, former manager of Know Your IX, an organization working to end sexual violence at schools and on college campuses, told The Herald.

The Herald has requested on four occasions to meet with Winthrop officials and has so far been denied.

‘There’s a threshold’

Under former President Donald Trump’s administration, between 2017 and 2020, federal Title IX guidance underwent several changes that left colleges and universities with an unclear mix of legal requirements and suggestions on how to handle campus sexual harassment complaints.

Former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos in 2017 rescinded Obama-era guidance documents that explained how schools should handle sexual assault claims under Title IX. A year later, the Department of Education, still under DeVos, issued proposed new rules that drastically differed from the Obama-era guidelines.

And last week, President Joe Biden’s administration announced plans to again change Title IX regulations.

The Obama-era guidance defined sexual harassment as “unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature.”

DeVos’ rules defined sexual harassment under Title IX as “unwelcome conduct on the basis of sex that is so severe, pervasive and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access to the recipient’s education program or activity.”

Davis, in the recording, explained the definition to Rausch.

“There’s a threshold, a definition in other words,” Davis said. “Anyone can submit (a sexual misconduct) report, and whatever they put in there doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a Title IX situation.”

However, even under DeVos’ narrower definition, Winthrop had the authority to formally investigate her case.

When Rausch reported her assault, DeVos’ proposed rules were just that — proposed.

The rules entered a 60-day public notice and comment period before a final version was presented in May 2020. The final version, which largely mirrored the proposed one, went into effect on Aug. 14, 2020, and colleges and universities had until then to alter their policies.

That was months after Rausch’s investigation ended.

And Winthrop’s sexual misconduct policy, at the time Rausch reported her assault, stated that the university “will review all reports of incidents that fall under Title IX,” which includes “all forms of sexual assault ... regardless of where the conduct occurred.”

The school’s policy at that time defined sexual assault as “unwanted sexual acts that involve threats, physical force, intimidation or deception.” Those acts can include: offensive touching, non-consensual sexual assault and forced sexual assault.

The policy also stated that forced sexual assault can involve the “administration of a drug, intoxicant or a physical substance that impairs the faculties of a person.”

At the time, Rausch’s assault met the policy’s definition of sexual harassment, which would have allowed the university to at least complete a preliminary investigation.

A web of technical missteps

A few days after Rausch was assaulted in 2019, she filed an anonymous sexual misconduct report at Winthrop’s Office of Victim’s Assistance. She wasn’t sure she wanted to pursue a Title IX investigation, so she did not include her name or her alleged assailant’s name. According to Winthrop’s policy at that time, the form would have been sent to the Office of Victim’s Assistance, the Title IX coordinator and the deputy Title IX coordinator.

According to that policy, the university’s ability to respond to sexual misconduct claims is limited, “when anonymity is maintained.”

When Rausch initially met with Davis in 2020, she resubmitted the anonymous sexual misconduct report and she identified herself, her alleged assailant and a few fraternity members. At the bottom of Rausch’s sexual misconduct report, which she provided to The Herald, a sentence states the report was sent to then-Title IX Coordinator Kimberly Faust.

Once a sexual misconduct report “comes to the attention of the Title IX coordinator, a preliminary inquiry will be conducted,” Winthrop’s then-in-effect policy stated.

A preliminary inquiry would “evaluate and decide if interim action is needed to end the sexual misconduct, eliminate any hostile environment and its effects, and prevent the recurrence.”

If the preliminary inquiry had found “insufficient basis to believe” sexual misconduct occurred, “both the reporting and responding parties will be notified, and the reporting party shall be advised of their right to ask that the decision be reviewed by the Title IX coordinator,” according to the policy.

Based on information gathered during the preliminary inquiry and “the wishes of the reporting party,” an investigator would have determined whether the university proceeded with a full investigation.

Rausch said she was never notified of a preliminary inquiry or its outcome.

In the recording from Rausch’s second meeting with Davis, he said although Rausch brought the ordeal to the university’s attention, he completed a student organization investigation. And that meant the university was the reporting party in the investigation — not Rausch.

Davis also explained in the recording that when Rausch resubmitted the sexual misconduct report during the first meeting, even though she wrote all the details, Davis was technically the person who submitted the report because she did it all from his computer.

“When I submitted the report, that report technically has my name on it, so it is a report that I submitted on your behalf, but it was me, doing my duty as a mandated reporter and reporting what you shared with me,” Davis said in the recording.

Mandated reporters are campus officials who, if they obtain knowledge of sexual misconduct, are required by law to report the information, according to Winthrop’s policy at the time. Mandated reporters include student affairs staff, campus law enforcement, local police, coaches, athletic directors, residence life staff, student activities staff, human resources staff, advisers to student organizations, and any other official with significant responsibility for student and campus activities.

“If I had been made aware of that, I would not have done that on your computer,” Rausch told Davis in the recording.

“That’s on us, then, for not explaining that to you,” he responded.

Schools can investigate a non-student

Shortly after Rausch was assaulted, a few fraternity members told her her alleged assailant was not a Winthrop student, so the university couldn’t help her. Winthrop’s Victim Coordinator Itali Jackson corroborated what the fraternity members said, according to text messages Rausch provided to The Herald.

And during Rausch’s first meeting with Davis, he agreed with Jackson and the fraternity members. But he also said he’d look into the assailant’s enrollment status.

Rausch did not get a clear answer until months after Davis ended his student organization investigation in April 2020.

In a May 2021 email, Davis told Rausch that her assailant was fully enrolled at Winthrop in 2018. He had been registered for spring 2019 classes (the semester Rausch was assaulted), but his schedule was dropped by the university in December 2018.

Although he wasn’t taking classes, he participated in fraternity activities and he registered for classes the following semester, Davis said in the email. However, her alleged assailant dropped his schedule on Aug. 17, 2019.

Carson, former manager of Know Your IX, said because Rausch’s alleged assailant re-enrolled in classes the next semester, the university had the authority to open an investigation.

“Without the 2020 regulation in place, they absolutely could have started an investigation against him because it’s not about where the violence took place,” Carson said. “It’s about, ‘Is it impacting someone currently as a student?’”

Under DeVos’ regulations, which did not go in effect until August 2020, universities can dismiss sexual assault claims — even during a pending investigation or hearing — if the person accused is no longer enrolled at the school, according to the Office of Civil Rights, a sub-agency of the education department. But schools are not required to dismiss such cases, according to the OCR.

And if a university does dismiss a case, schools must give both the reporting and responding parties written notice of dismissal and an explanation, according to a summary of DeVos’ final rule.

Even with DeVos’ changes, a university “must always respond promptly to a complainant’s report of sexual harassment” when the Title IX coordinator or another authoritative official is notified, according to the OCR. The university’s Title IX coordinator “must inform the complainant about the availability of supportive measures, with or without the filing of a formal complaint, and consider the complainant’s wishes regarding supportive measures,” according to the OCR.

In the recording, Davis explained that.

“If it’s not something that the school can resolve, like, investigate and offer a grievance procedure, then what we do is offer supportive measures, which would be counseling therapy, if there are class adjustments we need to make, and I was under the impression that you were connected to a therapist,” he said.

Rausch said in the recording that she didn’t think Winthrop officials informed her of all possible supportive measures.

“I was connected to a therapist, but there were quite a few resources that I wasn’t made aware of,” she said. “There were things at the administrative level that would have been helpful to know about. I didn’t know I could have possibly taken a semester off.”

Wolverton also explained in the recording that Rausch was never offered a no trespass order or a no contact order against her alleged assailant.

Rausch left the meeting with some hope.

Davis told Rausch her alleged assailant transferred in 2020 to a different South Carolina university. Rausch asked if she’d be able to pursue a Title IX investigation there, and Davis said he’d look into it.

But a few days later, he told Rausch in an email, which she provided to The Herald, that the other university would not be able to investigate because her assailant was no longer enrolled there.

Rausch reached her tipping point.

“For a multitude of reasons, I feel like you have failed me and I don’t feel like you’re trauma-informed or qualified to handle sexual assault cases,” Rausch said in an email to Davis. “I don’t feel comfortable talking to you anymore or going into your office because it is incredibly re-traumatizing for me. The way you have handled my situation has hurt me beyond belief, and I don’t know if I will ever truly emotionally recover from all of the ways I have been neglected and misled.”

Future of Title IX at Winthrop

A 2021 article in Winthrop’s student newspaper, The Johnsonian, revealed to Rausch that she wasn’t alone. The article reported that two former students had been sexually assaulted and harassed, and they felt the university had mishandled their cases.

Student protests erupted. More students came forward with similar experiences. Town halls were facilitated. And official statements from Winthrop leaders promised to further study the problem — including one from Interim President George Hynd. He assured students that the university would create a new position solely dedicated to Title IX.

Winthrop fulfilled that promise.

In October, the university hired Kevin Sheppard as its new Title IX coordinator.

Before Sheppard, Faust had served as Winthrop’s Title IX coordinator. She also served as the university’s vice president and chief of staff.

Federal law requires every educational institution that receives federal funding to have a Title IX coordinator.

Sheppard worked several years as a Title IX investigator at the University of South Carolina, which, in recent years, has faced multiple lawsuits alleging the university did not effectively respond to sexual harassment complaints.

Winthrop also promised to review and update its sexual misconduct policy. In 2021, the university issued an interim Title IX sexual harassment policy, which is in accordance with DeVos’ regulations.

Rausch and Wolverton got married in 2020, and last month, Rausch graduated from Winthrop with an art degree.

Despite her continued fight, Rausch never officially opened a Title IX investigation.

“I used to be a resident assistant,” Rausch said. “I was trained to tell people that the school would help them and I believed that. I truly believed the school had both the power to change things and the responsibility to protect me and other students.”

However, before she graduated, Rausch did impact Winthrop’s Title IX process.

Last year, the student group she and Wolverton helped create, Winthrop University Students for Change, insisted the university fulfill a list of demands to improve campus safety.

And Winthrop met some on the group’s list, including the hiring of a full time Title IX coordinator.

“That was a really important step in the right direction and I’m very proud of the students who were involved with making those changes,” Rausch said.

Thanks to the determination of Rhianna Rausch changes have been made at Winthrop University.
Thanks to the determination of Rhianna Rausch changes have been made at Winthrop University.

Sheppard, in a statement to The Herald, said the university created the Office of Title IX and ADA Compliance, which, in recent months, has “embarked on an effort to improve reporting, education and training related to sexual harassment, sexual misconduct and interpersonal violence.”

He said the office has already implemented several changes, including improving communication, mandatory training, Title IX educational initiatives, and reorganizing the Title IX office’s resources, personnel and reporting and outreach structure.

He said the office is implementing new initiatives, including:

▪ A student Title IX leadership program, a network of students who do not tolerate any form of sexual misconduct on campus or within the Winthrop community.

▪ A Title IX workgroup, which will meet regularly to discuss ongoing cases and supportive measures.

▪ A Title IX council, an advisory committee that will be charged with periodic consideration, review and recommendation of policy and procedure.

▪ And a possible membership with Culture of Respect Collective, a National Association of Student Personnel Administrators initiative to end sexual violence.

“These significant changes represent a major step forward for Winthrop,” Sheppard said. “However, we are not done. The university is committed to continual improvements that will better support survivors, hold offenders accountable and empower individuals to make a difference.”

But Rausch said she’s still skeptical.

“I worry that the changes they’ve made are only to save face instead of actually making serious changes that will have a lasting impact,” she said. “With that being said, one of the main reasons I stayed at this school instead of transferring or leaving completely was so I could work to change things for the better.

“I’m glad I didn’t graduate without anything changing at all. I didn’t want it to be as easy for Winthrop to do what they did to me to another student.”

This is the third of a three-part series of the stories on Rhianna Rausch and three other Winthrop student victims of sexual assault. Alex Zietlow contributed to these reports.