Xandria Phillips
AFTER CONSIDERING THE STATEMENTS AND
INFORMATION RECEIVED FROM BOTH PARTIES
the Panel
/kissed/
the Panel
/touched/
the Panel
/considered moaning/
the Panel
/was gyrating/
/between sexual partners/
the Panel
/parties routinely/
the Panel
/had sex/
the Panel
/lost momentum/
/in a relationship/
the Panel
/dissipated when/
the Panel
/began feeling ill/
/could be/
the Panel
/stimulating her/
the Panel
/was able to reach her/
/and her legs were opened/ /(not clamped shut)/
/after considering/
the Panel
/coerced/ /explained at length/
the Panel
/was an erratic/
the Panel
/moved to the other side/
the Panel
/did not want Sexual contact/
the Panel
/was verbally clear/
the Panel
/respected her wishes/
/did not want Sexual contact/
the Panel
/was verbally clear/
the Panel
/respected her wishes/
Notes:
I’m interested in the way responsibility dissolves in collectives. I’m thinking about chains of command, and moreso, a room full of powerful individuals who are meant to hold each other accountable behind closed doors. The collective is power -- a power I generally associate with solidarity built from shared individual trauma, but in this case speaks to a shared space of privilege, of hegemony. “The Panel” is a pacemaker and a timekeeper in this Title IX Report. It dictates doctrine in the royal we’s tongue. How might accountability shift if names were written in place of “the Panel”? Individuals drafted, suggested, and argued for different linguistic interpretations of the text. Every word has been weighed for its connotation. The authoritative repetition serves its masters. Language is words shackled in semblance, the Panel is selves bound in assumptive distance. I want to expose the ratking on the page; each of its heads wailing in simultaneity.