Perceptions of (In)action Against Sexual Misconduct, Anti-LGBTQ+ Hate, Racism, and Hazing Intersect to Build a Campus Climate of Institutional Betrayal

Students who experience campus sexual misconduct often report feeling that their university did not take adequate actions to protect them from harm or to support them after harm occurred. Recent research has indicated such feelings of "institutional betrayal" do not necessarily need to be based on one's personal experiences; rather, students may feel a sense of secondary institutional betrayal based on their observations of the ways third-parties were treated following an incident of sexual misconduct. We conducted interviews with 24 faculty/staff members and focus groups with 43 students at a large public university in the southeastern United States, asking participants about their perceptions of "institutional responses to sexual misconduct." Using a grounded theory analysis, we identified the following codes relevant to institutional betrayal: (1) Campus norms of solidarity, (2) Marginalization of identities at a predominantly white institution, (3) Prioritization of institution's public reputation over student support, and (4) Stifled potential of student initiatives. Participants frequently mentioned observations that may be classified as secondary institutional betrayal, but these observations were not limited to sexual misconduct. They also discussed their institution's (in)action in response to anti-LGBTQ+ hate, racism, and hazing as a reason that they believed their institution would not help them if they experienced sexual misconduct. Thus, we propose that perceptions of campus administrators' inadequate responses to an array of harms intersect to build a <i>campus climate of institutional betrayal</i> that inhibits students from seeking and receiving the support they need.