Honey Ussery
OXFORD, Miss. – Honey Ussery, a former local prosecutor who has fought for victims of sexual assaults and domestic abuse, recently became the University of Mississippi’s Title IX Coordinator, making her responsible for investigating campus reports of relationship violence, stalking and sexual assault.
Many people think of women’s sports when they hear the term “Title IX,” but the term actually refers to the federal statute that prohibits all forms of sex discrimination, including misconduct such as sexual assault, domestic violence, sexual harassment and stalking. The Title IX coordinator at UM is responsible for helping the university comply with that federal law, and Ussery said she’s looking forward to her work here.
“I’m really excited to be here,” Ussery said. “Everyone has been wonderful. It seems like a very welcoming place and everybody is really nice and everyone seems to work together, which is impressive because there are a lot of people working on this campus.”
Ussery is married to Flint Ussery, a former Ole Miss football player. They have two children, Layla, 10, and Ian, 13. She answered some questions about her work and the kind of services her office provides to the campus community.
Tell me about your background and how you got into this line of work.
Ussery: I went to law school as a nontraditional student. My daughter was 6 months old and my son was 3 when I began in 2005. I finished early, in December 2007, and took the February bar. During that last year of law school, I started working as an intern in the prosecutor’s office here. The office used to have a VAWA grant that had lapsed. I submitted a proposal to have it restarted. It was approved and I began working as an assistant district attorney.
VAWA covers violence against women and children. Off and on, my role has changed while working there. I covered Lafayette County for a while for all cases. Somehow, I always went back to working the sexual assaults and violence. Once you start that kind of work, you really enjoy it. I enjoyed working with victims, the public, children and also with law enforcement. I worked there for six years. Last year, I left to start my own practice. I did mostly chancery work at that time.
Now, I’m here. It’s an easier transition for me because I already have that background working with sexual assaults and being a prosecutor as well as working closely with law enforcement. On our campus, we also have the Department of Student Housing, victim’s advocates and the student conduct process. There are a lot of moving parts, but it is a great atmosphere. So far, I’ve enjoyed working with everyone.
Talk a little bit about what a Title IX coordinator does. I don’t know that the actual title explains much about the job itself and it may be a job that people aren’t familiar with.
Ussery: Title IX is actually very few words. It basically states that you are not allowed to discriminate based on sex. Sex can be gender, it can be gender identity. We are evolving so much as a society, and it doesn’t just apply to females. I think a lot of people just think Title IX just is about women’s sports. The way it has evolved recently, it now includes vandalism, sexual harassment, cyberstalking and sexual assaults that involve students. I investigate those complaints.
Vandalism of a sexual nature, for example, involves Title IX. We have to make sure there are not repeated offenses. If somebody is targeted and if somebody continually draws something on a particular person’s white board, they are being harassed. We have to investigate everything that comes through. We would rather people over-report these situations because if it is not a Title IX issue or a safety issue for campus, then we don’t worry about it, but it is better for us to know.
Supervision of minors also falls under Title IX as well. It’s very specific. It has to be a program that occurs on campus, especially with the camps that happen in the summers. You have to make sure that everybody is educated about supervision of minors and what their obligations are. There are reporting duties if you see a child being abused. Also, those who supervise minors go through a background check.
People might wonder about whether they should come to you with an issue. Is there anything you could tell people when they are considering whether they should come see you that might be helpful?
Ussery: If you are ever wondering if you should at all, do it. We emphasize this so much: report it. If you think it’s not an issue, it’s not going to hurt anything to report it to us. We encourage over-reporting rather than underreporting. We’d rather know about it. You may think it’s not a big deal, but it might become a big deal. Maybe we have heard that person’s name before.
I would encourage people who are on the fence to go ahead and report the situation to us. We can make the determination. They know that they have the obligation and that way, they don’t have to worry about it. We will take care of it from there.
Tell us who in the campus community that you serve.
Ussery: The Ole Miss community: faculty, staff, students, everyone. There’s a lot of overlap with what my boss does with the Office of Equal Opportunity. Sometimes, there is something that has a sexual harassment component in addition to an employment issue. It’s open to anyone. If someone feels like they are being sexually harassed, it falls under Title IX. We have student workers too, so you have that dual role that these students play. They may be in a position where they are a student but they are also an employee. I’m in the same department with Equal Opportunity.
There may be people who have been assaulted and they can go to the victim’s counseling services. It is completely confidential over there. We try to keep it as confidential as possible, but we have to do an investigation. If someone is on the fence, or if they feel aggrieved and they feel like they have a complaint and they don’t know if they want to file a complaint, they can go to the counseling services and make a determination there. We’re not trying to force anyone to come to us, but we also want to make sure campus is safe.
How big of an issue has this become in the age of when people can just go on the Internet and harass people?
Ussery: It has evolved into cyberstalking. That has become more of an issue because of all the social media. I didn’t know about the Yeti-Campus Stories app until last week. As soon as we get caught up and are able to see what is on people’s social media sites, there is another one that pops up.
Technology makes it easier for people to post things which they think are anonymous, which they are not necessarily. People sometimes send sexually explicit photos that they want to share with one another, but then it gets shown to other people without their consent, and that falls under the purview of Title IX. It has evolved to encompass all forms of social media, all ways of communicating – emails, Twitter, any of that falls under cyberstalking.
What can you do for victims who file Title IX complaints?
Ussery: My role is to investigate. I talk to witnesses to find out whether or not there has been a violation of our code of conduct. There is the court of law, which we are not, then there is the University Code of Conduct, and really that is my focus. I do an impartial investigation and I talk to the complainant and the respondent and the witnesses. I don’t form any conclusions. All I do is investigate.
If I do find that there might have been a violation, I turn it over to the conduct board and they make their determination. The other things we offer the complainants are counseling services. We have lots of services available for those who feel like they have been aggrieved. We have “no contact” orders, which we use if they simply want to be left alone. If you don’t want an investigation, but you want the person to leave you alone, we can go that route.
We can also move someone out of a class if they feel uncomfortable being in the class with the person because that’s going to be awkward. We try to accommodate and make everyone feel safe. Even if it is an issue that might not go to the code of conduct committee, that person still might not feel comfortable or safe. Our focus is making sure they get the proper services.
This campus has been ranked as one of the safest in the Southeastern Conference and one of the safest in the country. Based on your experience here, do you feel like that ranking is deserved?
Ussery: Absolutely. I am pretty impressed with the way everyone here worries about the safety of the students. They want to make sure this is a safe campus and I think everyone works together to make sure that happens. Everyone seems aware of what is going on on-campus and if we need some improvement in certain areas. They talk about it all the time. We have been very fortunate in that department, if they have a complaint or concern, people feel open to come talk to staff to get intervention for students if they need it or to get counseling services.
Those things contribute to the safety of campus. All of those services come into play before you get to a serious situation on campus. Some things you can’t prevent, but I think the university does some great things.
UPD tries to stay involved with students to make sure everyone is safe. They respond and get out and do training too to make sure everyone knows what they are supposed to do to keep everyone safe. The Department of Student Housing is very aware and very familiar with their students. I think the ranking is very well deserved.
You just mentioned intervention. I’m sure there are situations where faculty or staff or other students may see someone they think needs help with a situation and they don’t realize it. Can you point out signs to look for in a person who may be struggling?
Ussery: It’s hard to say. I don’t know that you can look at a person and tell. I think you’d have to get to know each individual. There are lots of organizations where people who are together in their housing situation really know the individual. If they notice someone’s behavior changes and they are not themselves, it might be time to talk to them.
As far as faculty and staff, they have made themselves available as advisers. Advisers are great and students tell them what’s going on, especially whether they are having problems in their lives. I don’t know if there is any one thing I can tell you to look out for, but if you know the person and they don’t seem well, have a conversation with them. We do have lots of alternative services.
The Student Intervention Team comes after there has been some kind of conduct issue. Creed Circle is another one of those. The idea is to try to teach those students how to do better. You don’t want to just throw them away. That’s the good thing about campus. They give them the opportunity to do better.
On some issues where my office is involved, I would say there are probably a few situations where it is just a matter of us being a polite society and sometimes it may be someone misconstruing something. If someone asks you out on a date, people don’t just say no, they say “maybe next week.” Let’s just say a female, for the sake of argument, is uncomfortable because the person keeps asking and asking, but the guy doesn’t know that because she never actually said “no.” Then it comes all the way to me, let’s say, and now I’m in the position where I have to tell him no, when we probably could have avoided all of it. I’d say be honest with one another to avoid those situations that could be remedied. It’s OK to be honest sometimes because people would appreciate that more.
Also, in domestic violence situations, if you see someone who has been physically harmed, it might be a good idea to take them aside and ask questions. Those are the situations that concern me the most. It’s intimate. Relationship violence also falls under Title IX. I saw that when I was with the prosecutor’s office. I don’t think there’s an age or other demographic that isn’t affected by domestic violence. People in those situations are lot more hesitant to come forward. They care for the abuser so they want to go back to that person to protect them. It’s a vicious cycle. If you see someone in that situation, call us. Let us intervene. The same applies to sexual assault.
What’s the best way for someone to reach you about a situation?
Ussery: Call directly to our office (in) 217 Martindale Hall, which is at 915-7045.
Is there anything else you’d like to say to the Ole Miss community?
Ussery: We are not here to persecute anyone, just to make sure campus is safe. My role is to be completely objective so people come in and say, “Here are the facts.” That’s it. I don’t want people to be afraid of me. I want them to feel welcome in our office. They can come in and report to us. They can report through UPD and they can report through Housing of Counseling Services. There are many ways to report and take care of one another.