| dc.description.abstract | In October of 2016, Baylor University’s first Title IX coordinator, Patty Crawford, publicly resigned. She alleged that Baylor had failed to provide her with necessary resources to investigate sexual assault on campus and that she was facing retaliation from university administrators for doing her job. In the following months, Crawford and Baylor each participated in national interviews as well as made statements to the press in their attempts to control the public narrative concerning her resignation. This thesis adopts Sara Ahmed’s feminist killjoy as a rhetorical trope and conducts a feminist rhetorical analysis of the public discourse relating to, first, Crawford’s complaint about her lack of resources, and second, Crawford’s resignation and the rationale behind it. I argue that the figure of the killjoy emerges throughout the rhetoric of Baylor University, Crawford’s lawyer, and Crawford herself, as each actor positions Crawford as somehow impeding the university’s happiness. Crawford’s and her lawyer’s rhetoric situate her complaint and resignation as both driven by her need to speak out against inequality, a narrative which evokes the figure of the killjoy. The killjoy emerges in Baylor’s discourse in other ways though, as they position Crawford’s actions as motivated by her own emotional and professional dissatisfaction, therefore drawing on themes of the killjoy as sensationalist. This analysis not only highlights the potential for the killjoy as a rhetorical trope, but also reveals the complicated nature of Title IX work and discourses surrounding sexual violence. | |
