AI Summary
5 min read“We have known this to be an issue since I think I’ve existed, which is now like some 41 years.” That line from sociologist Nicole Bedera captures the frustrating stasis at the heart of campus sexual violence: rates of victimization have not budged since researchers began measuring them in the 1980s. The Cornell University fraternity scandal that erupted in October 2024—prompting the university to ban fraternity parties for the rest of the academic year and hire sexual assault investigators—is not an aberration. It is the latest, clearest evidence that decades of reforms have failed. On Today, Explained, Bedera makes the case that the failure is structural and that banning fraternities outright may be the only intervention left that could actually work.
Why campus sexual violence hasn't improved
Bedera, who studies sexual violence and is the author of On the Wrong Side: How Universities Protect Perpetrators and Betray Survivors of Sexual Violence, argues that the core problem is something sociologists call “symbolic compliance.” When universities are caught violating their legal obligations under Title IX—the 1972 law that prohibits sex discrimination in any education program receiving federal funding—they respond not with genuine cultural or structural change but with symbols that create the appearance of action.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (02:15) **Introducing Nicole Badera and the Stagnant Crisis** - Sociologist Nicole Badera, who studies sexual violence, argues that campus sexual assault rates have not changed since the 1980s.
- 2 (04:25) **Why Nothing Has Changed: Symbolic Compliance** - Badera introduces the concept of "symbolic compliance" to explain why institutions fail to address sexual violence.
- 3 (06:22) **The Evolution of Title IX and Its Failures** - Badera traces the history of Title IX enforcement, from victim-blaming in the early 2010s to the current broken system.
- 4 (09:33) **The Trump Administration's 2020 Title IX Rules** - Badera explains how the pandemic-era implementation of new rules created a gap in institutional memory.
- 5 (11:34) **Why Universities Protect Perpetrators** - Badera argues that universities are patriarchal institutions that prioritize protecting men over student safety.
- 6 (17:10) **The Role of Greek Life in Sexual Assault** - Badera presents data showing fraternity men assault at three times the rate of the average male student.
- 7 (19:26) **Failed Reform Efforts: Symbolic Compliance in Fraternities** - Badera describes her experience teaching a sexual assault prevention program at the University of Maryland as an example of symbolic compliance.
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Show Notes
Cornell University’s president is wary of an outright ban, but the school’s sexual assault case has campuses around the country considering the question.
This episode was produced by Kelli Wessinger with help from Ariana Aspuru and Danielle Hewitt, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Gabriel Dunatov, engineered by David Tatasciore and Bridger Dunnagan, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram.
The Chi Phi fraternity house at the center of a rape allegation stands on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Photo by Ryan Murphy/Getty Images.
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