Jay Willis
Thanks to a flurry of recent activism and publicity, it’s little secret that sexual assault and sexual violence are serious problems in American schools, especially college campuses. Though the reported statistics vary somewhat, the most-cited Department of Justice report found that between 1 in 4 and 1 in 5 women are victims of sexual assault during their college careers. New guidance issued by the Department of Education aims to address this problem under a theory not often associated with sexual assault: civil rights in education.
A recent report issued by the Center for Public Integrity suggests that the problem may be worse than statistics alone might suggest. Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1972 prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded educational institutions and allows students to complain to the Department of Education if their school, among other things, fails to conduct a thorough investigation of their claims. However, the CPI report found that students rarely know of their ability to file enforcement complaints and that the Department rarely sanctions schools in the event that students do complain. Essentially, a lack of effective enforcement has kept victims of sexual assault from the protections that Title IX provides them.
[Read more…] about Reaffirming Title IX: Sexual Assault as a Violation of Civil Rights in Education