Expanding Frontiers: 2024 Trends in Institutional Betrayal and Institutional Courage Research

By Aubrie Patterson, MS
Northern Arizona University, Department of Psychological Sciences

We have a good problem at the Center for Institutional Courage: we can hardly keep up with the constant influx of published studies that center either institutional betrayal or institutional courage. We have almost finished categorizing 2024’s works with our most recent update to our Research Tracking Database, and yet we keep finding more research or grey literature that fit with our inclusion criteria of institutional betrayal or courage being a finding, focus, or key theoretical framework.

In working on this current update, I have noted a broadening of institutional betrayal or courage research outside of educational institutions. For example, Benedict et al. (2024) studied racial discrimination and associated institutional betrayal in social work institutions; a dissertation by Ramakrishnan (2024) turned a lens onto the institutional betrayal associated with media portrayals of sexual assault, and Kirkner et al. (2024) examined sexual abuse disclosures and institutional in foster care. These and many other works show that awareness of institutional betrayal and institutional courage is expanding and making its way across disciplinary and content lines.

I was also struck by the 2024 growth of research using an intersectional approach as it relates to institutional betrayal towards survivors of sexual violence. For example, the 2024 book by Jessica C. Harris, Hear Our Stories: Campus Sexual Violence, Intersectionality, and How We Build a Better University centers stories from qualitative interviews with 34 Women of Color survivors to demonstrate how intersectional systemic oppression from campus environments and contexts influences survivors’ experiences and needs related to campus sexual violence. Harris explicitly describes how institutional betrayal is the result when intersectionality is not considered when Women of Color experience sexual violence in academic institutions.

As if to illustrate Harris’ thesis through story, Leighia Eleanor J. Fleming wrote a particularly courageous and reflective chapter in the edited book by Laker, J.A., & Boas, E.M., Advancing Sexual Consent and Agential Practices in Higher Education (2024). In her chapter, “I Want it to Be Me in That Room: Institutional Betrayal, Identity Intersections, and Healing-Centered Responses to Sexual Misconduct,” Fleming reflects on her experiences as a coordinator in a Title IX office. She reveals the institutional betrayal that can occur if educators are not intentional in how they choose to interpret Title IX policies, particularly when supporting marginalized students who are more likely to slip through the cracks of institutional care. As Fleming writes, “by not showing up as my full and authentic self, I had been unintentionally causing or intensifying the institutional betrayal students experienced....From that day to the present, I show up each and every day with authenticity and integrity." Fleming urges educators to embody their identities and lead with care because this is how they have the power to change students’ lives and help them heal.

Finally, I would like to point out a change to our database. You can now filter for projects that were funded, at least in part, by the Center for Institutional Courage. This and other changes and notable trends can be seen on our methods page and directly in the database; and as we are always looking for suggestions or pieces to include in our database, please feel free to send them to us at team@institutionalcourage.org.

We thank you for all you do to further the cause of spreading awareness on institutional betrayal and institutional courage.

In solidarity,

Aubrie Patterson, M.S.
Northern Arizona University
Interdisciplinary Health PhD Student
College of Social and Behavioral Sciences