April 2025
Dear Friends of Courage,
One of several recent events that have been discussed in terms of institutional courage is Harvard’s bold response to governmental demands that threaten the core values of higher education. And just this week, the Center for Institutional Courage has joined over 400 charitable organizations by signing a Public Statement organized by the Council on Foundations that is fundamentally about responding to governmental institutional betrayal with institutional courage.
Although drafted before Harvard’s recent actions or the Council on Foundations statement was released, both of the articles in this issue of the Courage Brief are relevant to understanding the relevance of institutional courage to our current moment. These insightful articles also highlight the expanding reach and nuanced practice of institutional courage.
The first piece, by Courage Education Advisor Dr. Kathryn Becker-Blease, "Institutional Courage Depends on Intelligent Compliance and Non-Compliance," thoughtfully examines the balance institutions must strike between adhering to civil rights laws and knowing when principled non-compliance may lead to greater justice. Drawing insightful parallels from the medical field, this article explores how institutions, much like wise physicians, can empower their members to make informed and courageous decisions. It provides inspiring examples of those who chose paths of thoughtful compliance and intentional non-compliance in the face of threats to integrity and freedom.
Our second article, by Courage Research Associate Aubrie Patterson, “Expanding Frontiers,” offers an update on our Research Tracking Database, illustrating the remarkable growth of scholarship focused on institutional betrayal and courage across diverse sectors. Patterson highlights recent interdisciplinary contributions, such as studies on racial discrimination in social work and the intersectional institutional betrayal experienced by women of color survivors of campus sexual violence. Her piece underscores the expanding awareness and deepening scholarship that continue to invigorate and inform our collective efforts.
Selected additional articles by and about members of our team are listed at the end of this issue of the Courage Brief.
We encourage you to explore these powerful insights and to reflect on how you, too, might practice institutional courage in your own spheres of influence. As always, thank you for your continued commitment and support.
Thank you for your engagement,
Jennifer Freyd
Founder and President, Center for Institutional Courage
Institutional Courage Depends on Intelligent Compliance and
Non-Compliance
Dr. Kathryn Becker-Blease
Courage Education Advisor
Professor and Director, School of Psychological Science, Oregon State University
Changemakers working toward institutional courage must balance when to “comply with civil rights laws and go beyond mere compliance” and when to obey, in advance or at all. How do we decide what to do? Studies from the field of medicine showing how both compliance and non-compliance can support human health contain insights into how to build healthier institutions, too.
Generally speaking, when people take medicine as prescribed, they have better outcomes. At the same time, studies show that patients who “alter their prescribed therapy on a rational basis, often representing advanced therapeutic principles” - a phenomenon known as “intelligent non-compliance”- also often have good or even better outcomes. In a study on reducing unnecessary medication, some patients on medication for high blood pressure started skipping doses as they noticed their blood pressure was well-controlled with less medicine. These patients were more likely than those who obediently took the prescribed dose to successfully step down to a lower dose, resulting in a better outcome. The researchers concluded that physicians should consider that non-compliance could be rational and a good reason to reduce the prescribed dose.
Just as wise physicians empower patients to make informed decisions about treatment, courageous institutions educate their members on when and how to comply with or challenge laws. Fortunately, we have good examples to learn from. Here are a few.
Intelligent Compliance
When asked if the State of Maine would comply with an executive order, under the threat of threat of loss of federal funds, Governor Janet Mills provided a good example of intelligent compliance when she answered, “I'll comply with state and federal laws" and when further threatened with a loss of funding, ‘I’ll see you in court.”
Rather than refuse to comply, Governor Mills recentered the true meaning of non-discrimination laws and reiterated an expectation that the laws would be upheld by courts.
Intelligent Non-Compliance
Georgetown Law School Dean William Treanor, upon being told that Georgetown graduates would not be hired into government jobs if the government found the curriculum “unacceptable”, refused to change the curriculum as it reflected their Jesuit mission and that the First Amendment protected their rights.
Dean Treanor’s letter makes it clear that Georgetown will not comply. Like Governor Mills, he reiterates an expectation that laws regarding religious freedom and free speech will be followed.
Intelligent Compliance and Noncompliance
Middle school teacher Sarah Inama who was told to take down a classroom poster that said, “everyone is welcome here” initially complied, then put the poster back up, restating the purpose of public education is to literally to teach all children.
Healthy institutions depend on individuals ready to make smart decisions about what to do and why. The more we say in clear terms what demands we face; whether we are going to comply in advance, do the bare minimum, go beyond what we are required to do, or not comply; and what principle led to our decision, the more courageous institutions will be.
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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
Courage Team Links,
News, and Events
Works by the Courage Team
Alexis Adams-Clark, Melissa Barnes, Monika Lind, Alec Smidt, and Jennifer Freyd (Research Article):
Institutional courage attenuates the association between institutional betrayal and trauma symptoms among campus sexual assault survivors
Priya Fielding-Singh (Research Article):
Mothers’ Experiences of Institutional Betrayal During Childbirth and their Postpartum Mental Health Outcomes: Evidence From a Survey of New Mothers in the United States
Jennifer Gómez and Robyn Gobin (Research Article):
“It will always feel worse because it comes with that added ‘betrayal’”: Intersectionality praxis and Black young women survivors’ perspectives on cultural betrayal trauma theory.
Jennifer Gómez (Research Article):
Barriers to help-seeking among Black American young adults: Exploring the roles of sexual violence victimization, intersectional oppression, and perceived burdensomeness
Jennifer Gómez and Robyn Gobin (Workshop):
Trauma and Therapy for Black Women: Racism, Intersectionality, & Cultural Betrayal Trauma
Sarah Harsey, Alexis Adams-Clark, and Jennifer Freyd (Research Article):
Associations between defensive victim-blaming responses (DARVO), rape myth acceptance, and sexual harassment.
Sarah Harsey and Jennifer Freyd (Op-ed, The Hill):
Trump’s tariff gaslighting has a name: It’s DARVO
Media Coverage about Courage and the Courage Team
Nicole Bedera (Interview, Spitfire News):
Title IX was 'Trump's canary in the coal mine'
Jennifer Freyd (Mention, Medical News Today):
What to know about institutional betrayal
Jennifer Freyd (Mention, The Atlantic):
A Defense Against Gaslighting Sociopaths
Jennifer Freyd (Podcast, The Rip Currents):
Jennifer Freyd on DARVO and the Language of Betrayal
Sarah Harsey and Jennifer Freyd (Interview, The Guardian):
Commonly used defense tactic strongly correlates with acceptance of rape myths – study