Warning: This article includes a discussion of sensitive topics, such as rape and assault.
On February 20, 2021, Jeanne Wolkiewicz, then a first year, went with friends to an off-campus party hosted by the Haverford men’s lacrosse team. Wolkiewicz had just turned 19 and was part of the Bryn Mawr class of 2024. The party was typical for the lacrosse team, who were known for throwing such events. More often than not, they included the usual college activities: beer pong, dancing, and smoking. Wolkiewicz had previously been told that at least two of the lacrosse team players who might be at the party had a reputation for making unwelcome advances towards female students, and she says that’s why she decided to go along: she wanted to be there to protect her friends should anything happen. The plan of the night was to stick together — there was, they reasoned, safety in numbers.
Once at the party, Wolkiewicz says that it took less than two hours for a male Haverford student to start making one of her friends visibly uncomfortable through aggressive and unwanted advances. Wolkiewicz went over to join their conversation, hoping to diffuse the situation by putting herself between her friend and the male student. Then, that same Haverford student offered her a beer — her first drink of the night.
Wolkiewicz remembers putting her drink down for a moment before playing beer pong with cups of water. At that point, she recalls a male Haverford student telling her, “You should finish your drink, you would play better.” She did.
After finishing the drink, Wolkiewicz says she became dizzy. Wolkiewicz says she was disorientated and confused at the time but has a hazy memory of another male student leading her to a back bedroom. She vaguely recalls being given a shot of tequila. Then, she says, her world went black. Wolkiewicz’s next clear memory is kneeling over a toilet, her friends sitting with her and telling her that she had too much to drink.
A few hours later, she went back to her dorm room and cried for an hour. She was positive that she had been drugged and feared something much worse had happened. Already overwhelmed, though, she says she wasn’t yet ready to face the possibility of physical assault.
For the next few days, Wolkiewicz says she was too distraught and traumatized to get out of bed. Desperate for help, she turned to Tonja Nixon, her assigned dean for academic advising. Nixon redirected her to the Title IX Office shared by Bryn Mawr and Haverford College, where Wolkiewicz filed an official Title IX complaint naming her alleged assaulter, claiming that she was roofied.
On Feb. 25, 2021, Kim Taylor, the Bi-Co Title IX coordinator, wrote an email to Wolkiewicz informing her that the school was opening an official investigation into her complaint. The email also stated that the former associate director of Campus Safety, Kim Callahan, would lead the investigation. Callahan retired from Bryn Mawr College last month, and her last day working at either Bryn Mawr or Haverford was Nov. 3, 2023.
In mid-March of 2021, Wolkiewicz had a meeting with Taylor. During this meeting, Wolkiewicz claims Taylor told her that the case against her alleged assaulter would be dropped, and no hearing would occur. Wolkiewicz says that she was later told that without a test confirming that a Rohypnol-type drug had been in her system, there was no evidence to support her complaint. She claims she was told that it didn’t matter that there were witnesses who could attest to her symptoms that night, that even her own testimony made no difference. Wolkiewicz says the only action the Title IX Office offered to take was for Taylor to have a “conversation with [the Haverford Lacrosse team] about the kinds of behaviors they have engaged in that are unacceptable” Wolkiewicz told the Bi-College Newspaper.
“I felt ashamed,” she says. “Like, why did I even say anything? I just wasted everybody’s time.”
Under current federal Title IX regulations, once a formal investigation has begun on a college campus, complainants have the right to an impartial hearing, in addition to a thorough investigation. Any institution of higher education that accepts federal funds, and is thus subject to Title IX statutes, must offer that complainant all information that is “directly related to the allegations, including evidence that the institution does not intend to rely on in reaching a decision,” according to Elizabeth Tang, a senior counsel at the National Women’s Law Center.
Once a formal investigation is officially opened, schools must also offer to hold a hearing: “When an investigation opens, institutions of higher education are required to hold a live hearing with an opportunity for cross-examination,” states Tang. A live hearing that did not happen in Wolkiewicz case. Complainants are also entitled to a written notice of the right to appeal their case following its closure, which again, Wolkiewicz did not receive.
Wolkiewicz is not the only Bryn Mawr student who claims to have had their rights violated by the Bi-College Title IX office. A year-long investigation by the Bi-Co Newspaper has uncovered repeated instances where Bi-Co students were denied hearings, possibly in violation of Title IX statutes.
The Bi-Co has conducted over twenty interviews with college administrators, legal experts and students who filed sexual assault complaints with the Bryn Mawr and Haverford Title IX office. We have also consulted dozens of court documents in a case in which a former Bryn Mawr student sued the school after being sexually assaulted by a professor.
Through our investigation, the Bi-Co has discovered what appears to be a pattern — dating back to at least 2019 — of Bryn Mawr and Haverford denying students their legal right to a hearing in a Title IX investigation.
Bryn Mawr College’s website claims that the school’s own practice goes beyond what is federally required, specifically stating “the Bryn Mawr College Sexual Misconduct Policy prohibits Title IX sexual harassment, which includes sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking. Bryn Mawr’s Policy is more extensive than Title IX, and also covers other gender-based misconduct.” Our reporting, however, has uncovered evidence to the contrary: that in at least three cases, including Wolkiewicz’s, the school’s hearing and investigation procedure policy did nothing more than what is required, and in some cases, even less.
The Bi-Co talked with one Bryn Mawr College dean concerning how students are treated throughout the Title IX process. “I definitely see a pattern with students, whether it’s that they feel like they’re not being heard, [or] they’re not seeing the right person to get the support that they asked for [or] require, [or] they’re not getting to the conclusions or the resources that they want,” said the dean, who requested to remain anonymous. “And they’re certainly not getting to either the restorative or punitive justice that they want. But I see a pattern of dissatisfaction nearly every time. And I would say that that has been long-standing across coordinators [and] across investigators. I don’t think that’s position specific, I think that’s institution specific.”
Wolkiewicz alleges that from the very first meeting she had with Taylor, she felt dismissed. She claims that Taylor initially tried to persuade her that her migraine medication, which is ten milligrams of Propranolol and ten milligrams of Amitriptyline, was the reason she could not remember anything. Essentially, she says, it felt like the school told her: “’You couldn’t have been roofied. It had to have been drug and alcohol interaction. We can’t help you.’” Wolkiewicz claims that this was not the first time she drank alcohol while on these medications and that she had never experienced the symptoms she had the night of Feb. 20 before.
“Making people feel small is a great way to make people feel that nothing ever happened. I think that’s what Bryn Mawr capitalizes on: the meekness of women,”
Jeanne Wolkiewicz
Six days after she filed her initial complaint, Wolkiewicz was interviewed by Kim Callahan, who was then the campus safety investigator for Bryn Mawr and Haverford College. Wolkiewicz alleges that before asking for her account of the night, Callahan asked her how much she’d had to drink and smoke, and what prescription medication she was taking; information that Wolkiewicz says she had already provided the school. Wolkiewicz told the Bi-Co that she felt these questions were intended to intimidate and silence her testimony. “Making people feel small is a great way to make people feel that nothing ever happened. I think that’s what Bryn Mawr capitalizes on: the meekness of women,” Wolkiewicz says of that interview.
Wolkiewicz alleges that multiple people told her that they were interviewed by the Bi-Co Title IX Office regarding her complaint. Wolkiewicz also alleges that the office never confirmed to her who they interviewed concerning her allegations or what they said about her, but the Bi-Co News has spoken to one Bryn Mawr student who confirmed that she was in fact interviewed by Taylor about the alleged incident.
Wolkiewicz also told the Bi-Co that she was never told what her alleged assailant said in response to her allegations, or if he even knew of them at all. She claims she was never given any specific information on what exactly her investigation had entailed. However, according to the current Title IX regulations, under section (vi) 106.45, the Bi-Co Title IX Office is required to offer her that transparency.
Wolkiewicz met with Taylor following the dismissal of her complaint. In essence, Wolkiewicz told Bi-Co, she felt as though Taylor was saying, “‘We [Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges] don’t have enough proof to say anything.’” She says that Taylor offered to have a “conversation” with the Lacrosse team and assured her that the Haverford lacrosse players “were really disappointed with how bad their reputation was.”
Essentially, Wolkiewicz says she felt her case had been boiled down to: “‘Jeanne said some weird sh** happened to her. We talked to the boys about it. It’s all fine.’ That’s what I formally got from the school.”
On March 24, 2021, Wolkiewicz emailed President Kim Cassidy, alleging that other complaints by Bi-Co students had been ignored by the school. She demanded that the administration do more to protect victims: “Are you aware that over the past few years, many Bryn Mawr students have bravely brought these concerns [of roofying and assault] forward to Campus Safety and, in some cases, the Title IX Representative, only to be told that the case would be dropped? At the same time, there have been no warnings issued to Bryn Mawr students of the potential risks associated with attending parties hosted by members of these teams nor any other attempt to safeguard your charges. Students have been forced to take on the responsibility of protecting one another where the BMC Administration has failed,” the email read.
Following this email exchange, Wolkiewicz talked to Taylor and Dean Walter, formerly the Dean of the Undergraduate College. Wolkiewicz told the Bi-Co that Taylor agreed to help her revise the procedures at the Title IX Office, in addition to setting up various educational programs on campus rape culture. She says she left that meeting hopeful that the administration would finally take action to fully support victims of sexual assault on the Bi-Co campuses.
Broken Promises, Missed Opportunities
Wolkiewicz says she began to have nightmares the summer following the dismissal of her case and was admitted to an eating disorder facility in June of 2021. She said that it was only after numerous therapy sessions that she came to the conclusion she had been raped as well as roofied that evening.
This is an example of a process designed and implemented to protect the Bi-Co from culpability, and the reputation of the accused, as opposed to ensuring the (future) protection and wellbeing of the traumatized.
Jeanne Wolkiewicz
“It broke me,” Wolkiewicz says.
As for the promises that Taylor had made to Wolkiewicz about working together to improve the Title IX process, Wolkiewicz says she heard from neither Taylor or Walters for the entirety of that summer. On Oct. 7, 2021, she sent another email to Taylor, Walters, and President Kim Cassidy. In it, she demanded that the school live up to the promises it had made to her following the closure of her case.
Wolkiewicz noted that she made that demand “not to assign blame, but to instead illustrate the failure of the college to protect its students, or to care for them after a traumatic experience. This is an example of a process designed and implemented to protect the Bi-Co from culpability, and the reputation of the accused, as opposed to ensuring the (future) protection and wellbeing of the traumatized. Furthermore, these multiple missed opportunities tell a story of dangerous ignorance and intentional avoidance of potentially life-changing solutions. BUT, there is an opportunity for the college to change the process to protect and better meet the needs of their students.”
On Oct. 10, 2021, Cassidy replied to Wolkiewicz in an email, which stated: “I have spoken with Dean Walters, who in turn spoke with Kim Taylor about the conversations we had last spring and about their understanding of their conversations with you about next steps. After reading your letter and hearing from them, it seems clear that there were different understandings of next steps. Just as you thought that Ms. Taylor was to follow up with you, she understood that you were going to initiate follow up with her before the fall. I am very sorry that this miscommunication happened around an issue that is so important to you and to the College.”
Upset by this response, Wolkiewicz made a Google Drive folder in the fall of 2021. Using social media, she shared the link to the folder and tried to draw attention to the alleged failures of the administration. One document demanded that the school take more responsibility for their handling of Title IX cases. In it, Wolkiewicz stated: “The college-led case that followed left me feeling invalidated, unsupported, and guilty, not to mention retraumatized. None of these feelings should be felt by a survivor of sexual assault after choosing to come forward.”
Wolkiewicz continued to talk with the school the following semester about changing the Title IX office to better serve its students. She claims to have had multiple meetings with Taylor in spring of 2022. During this time Wolkiewicz was not enrolled on campus but would drive back and forth from her hometown in Virginia in order to help implement the changes she believed were crucial for creating a safer campus. Wolkiewicz planned events with Taylor for the entire month of April, centered around combating sexual assault on Bryn Mawr and Haverford’s campuses.
And yet, Wolkiewicz claims, no administrators, including Taylor, were present at the keynote event with sexual assault awareness advocator Katie Koestner. As far as Wolkiewicz is aware, Taylor, Callahan and Cassidy also did not appear at any of the other planned events.
“It’s the school that dropped the ball on it, not us,” says Wolkiewicz.
Disillusioned and upset, Jeanne Wolkiewicz decided she could no longer attend Bryn Mawr College. In the spring of 2022, Wolkiewicz took a leave of absence from Bryn Mawr. She is currently an undergraduate at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Longo v. Bryn Mawr College
The Bi-Co has uncovered at least one case where Bryn Mawr College has been sued for violations of student rights in Title IX proceedings. In 2021, Alexis Longo (Bryn Mawr College Class of 2021), sued both Bryn Mawr College and Nelson David Gomez Barreto — a former Bryn Mawr Spanish professor — for emotional damage and violation of Title IX protocols. Bryn Mawr College settled out of court, and the final settlement remains behind a non-disclosure agreement.
The Bi-Co was unable to contact Longo for a statement, and her lawyer did not respond to our requests for comment. Details of her case, however, are laid out in public court records.
Longo alleged in her lawsuit that on June 6, 2019, she went out to dinner with Barreto and one other student in celebration of the end of the semester. After the dinner, Barreto suggested that he and Longo go back to the other student’s Center City Philadelphia apartment to “continue the celebration.”
Once at the apartment, the lawsuit claims that “Barreto proceeded to press himself against her and start[ed] repeatedly kissing Ms. Doe [Longo] without her consent or willingness, and over and over again told her he ‘wanted to f*ck her.’ At this time, he also made a comment that he “forgave her [school]work” because he wanted to ‘f*ck her’.”
Longo alleges that Barreto assaulted her again later in the evening while Longo pretended to fall asleep. Longo claimed that Barreto also asked her, “You haven’t heard about me?”, apparently a reference to his reputation of making sexual advances to students.
According to the court documents, a week after these events, Longo, emotionally distraught and unable to go to her campus job, returned to her family home. On July 23, 2019, Longo’s mother contacted Kim Callahan. On Sept. 5, 2019, Callahan set up a meeting with Barreto to which he failed to appear. On Sept. 6, 2019, Barreto resigned, and Longo was informed that her case was being dropped without a hearing. She was told that Barreto had been “banned” from campus and there was no need for further investigation into her case.
Longo also claimed in her initial complaint against the school, that Bryn Mawr College was aware of Barreto’s pattern of misconduct towards other students and indifferent to it: “Prior to the events of June 06, 2019, Barreto has engaged in nonconsensual sexual misconduct with multiple other students during his employment at BMC… Had BMC taken adequate remedial measures following previous reports of Barreto’s sexual misconduct towards students, Ms. Doe [Longo] would not have been sexually harassed and sexually assaulted by Barreto.”
Bryn Mawr’s formal response to Longo’s lawsuit was that the school had no jurisdiction over the event, which was off campus and took place when classes were not in session: “The alleged conduct occurred during the summer break, off campus, and had nothing to do with Barreto’s job responsibilities— Bryn Mawr cannot be held vicariously liable for it.”
In addition to denying having jurisdiction over the case, Bryn Mawr also denied having any previous knowledge about sexual misconduct committed by Barreto against students. The court rejected the school’s motion to dismiss Longo’s complaint. The lawsuit was officially settled on the 15 of Dec. 2022.
Bryn Mawr College declined a request for comment.
A 2023 Case
Sandra, a student at Bryn Mawr College who chose to go under a pseudonym, also claims to have had her rights violated by the Bi-Co Title IX office.
In the fall of 2022, Sandra alleges that she was sexually assaulted and harassed by another Bryn Mawr student in her dorm room. She filed a Title IX report in February of 2023.
Unlike Wolkiewicz, Sandra was given information about the interviews that took place with her alleged assaulter and various witnesses. Sandra was also given a detailed explanation about what the investigation entailed and how it was conducted. But she still recalls feeling doubted and dismissed. At one point, Sandra remembers being pointedly told that her alleged assailant had identified herself as a “straight woman, ” which Sandra interpreted as the casting of additional doubt on her claim.
When asked if a respondent’s sexual orientation had any bearing on the schools’ investigation, Tang told the Bi-Co that “there is no requirement under the Trump Title IX regulations to prove intent [to harass or obtain sexual pleasure]. [The] intent [to harass or obtain sexual pleasure] is not a part of the consideration for whether or not somebody was harassed or assaulted.”
Sandra says she was also forced to repeatedly assert her desire for a hearing and felt subtly pressured by the school to drop her request. She told the Bi-Co that the emphasis seemed to be less on justice and more on her emotional well-being. Sandra said that “[Kim Taylor] showed prevalent concern about my mental health for having a hearing, and that felt unprofessional.”
Sandra sent a follow-up email to Taylor in late May of 2023 again stating her desire for a formal hearing. After waiting a month and a half, Sandra was finally contacted by Taylor in late July in an email, which stated that no hearing would take place. “Since [the alleged perpetrator] has accepted responsibility for touching you without your consent,” Taylor wrote, “there is not a need for a hearing to determine responsibility.”
On the Bryn Mawr move-in day of Aug. 29, 2023, Sandra was finally informed by Karlene Burrell-McRae, the Dean of the Undergraduate College at Bryn Mawr, that the only reprimand given to her alleged assaulter would be a “no contact order” and a warning. The final notice also stated that the alleged perpetrator claimed their actions had no “sexual innuendo,” implying that it was a factor in the school’s ultimate decision. Burrell-McRae’s email did not inform Sandra of any right to appeal her case.
“I’ve seen her [the alleged assailant] a couple of times within the past two days, and I have a class a couple of doors down from her at the same time this semester. Given that, and that she had gotten pretty much a slap on the wrist, it just feels that the school doesn’t really care that much about my mental health as Kim Taylor had expressed in the meetings,” Sandra said.
Bryn Mawr’s annual security report states that “The College will not issue a disciplinary sanction arising from an allegation of Sexual Misconduct without holding a Hearing and permitting an Appeal unless otherwise resolved through an Alternative Resolution Process.”
The failure by the Bi-Co Title IX office to conduct a hearing and inform Sandra of her right to appeal the outcome of her case is not only a violation of federal regulations, but it also runs counter to the very policy Bryn Mawr College claims to have in place.
Bryn Mawr Responds
On November 20, 2023, Kim Taylor sent the following message to the Bi-Co News in response to the allegations made against the Title IX Office:
“The College cares deeply about addressing all reported allegations of Title IX sexual misconduct and other gender-based discrimination and endeavors to provide an environment where all community members feel supported. Our policies and procedures comply with federal and state laws (and, in fact, exceed the standards that they require) while also responding in a way that is sensitive and responsive to the uniqueness of each allegation. It is also important to emphasize that not all allegations made under the Sexual Misconduct Policy fall under the procedures of that Policy, and when that happens, we provide complainants with College resources and other avenues by which they can (and we hope they do) seek resolution. No two experiences are exactly alike, and in situations where there are adverse parties, often one is unhappy with the outcome. Nevertheless, we always work our hardest to respond to the nuance of all allegations with care and concern for all parties, and to satisfy all of our compliance responsibilities. For reasons I am sure you understand, the College will never comment on questions regarding specific situations. If you would like to discuss this further, please do not hesitate to use the link below my signature to schedule a time to meet. Sincerely, Kim“
Following this email, The Bi-Co set up a meeting with Taylor, per her suggestion. The meeting, scheduled for Nov. 28, 2023, was canceled by Taylor 15 minutes before its set start time. She sent the following message, which included a repeated section from her previous email:
“First, thank you once again for reaching out and for giving me the opportunity to respond to your questions. While I appreciate the research that you have done into learning the legality of releasing student information to you, the College’s top priority, in all matters, is the well-being of our students. We recognize that you have obtained the consent of the complainant to release to you the investigative file in the case upon which you are reporting. However, in conducting full and fair investigations, we speak with many individuals who give us highly identifiable information, and we do not believe that redacting names in these detailed matters would be sufficient to maintain the confidentiality promised to them. Further, the College is committed to supporting all students who bring claims under our Title IX and other processes, and places great emphasis on the importance of students reporting any issues which arise. We also, at all times, want to encourage those with information which would be helpful in an investigation to come forward and speak freely with us. We are deeply concerned by the impact that our speaking to the press regarding any individual student matter, even if arguably permissible, could have on students’ willingness to have those essential conversations with us. As I wrote to you in my prior response, it is important to emphasize that not all allegations made under the Sexual Misconduct Policy fall under the procedures of that Policy, and when that happens, we provide complainants with College resources and other avenues by which they can (and we hope they do) seek resolution. No two experiences are exactly alike, and in situations where there are adverse parties, often one is unhappy with the outcome. Nevertheless, we always work our hardest to respond to the nuance of all allegations with care and concern for all parties, and to satisfy (and go beyond) all of our compliance responsibilities … Since the College will not share information regarding individual reports of sexual misconduct, I will cancel our meeting ...”
The Bi-Co emailed Kim Callahan with a request for comment but was unable to reach her, due to her recent resignation.
Dean Burrell McRae and President Kim Cassidy did not respond to a request for comment.
CORRECTION: Previously, the article erroneously spelled Jeanne Wolkiewicz’s name as “Jeanne Wolckiewicz.” We apologize for this mistake and have since rectified it. In addition, Elizabeth Tang is a senior counsel at the Women’s Law Center, not a senior counselor. We apologize for this mistake and have rectified it.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of the article stated that Wolkiewicz’s advertisements did not appear in the Daily Digest. This is incorrect. The event “Katie Koestner at Bryn Mawr” appeared in the Daily Digest on April 14, 11, and 13 of 2022. In addition, a “Coffee and Conversation” event, also run by Wolkiewicz, was featured in the Daily Digest on April 14, 15, and 12 of 2022.
1 comment
BMC needs to shine some light on how it treats it’s students
in all of these types of proceedings. The through line here is a lack of focus on the student and instead an emphasis on protecting the reputation and culpability of the administration. I have had first hand experiences with these type of proceedings at BMC and the intimidation of the students is real. Sadly this type of care and protective environment as well as putting women first is the exact reason many students chose BMC.
I hope the administration learns from past mistakes and protects its future students. They certainly have not to date.