Unfortunately, the day is upon us: The new Trump/DeVos Title IX rules go into effect Friday, August 14, 2020.
Colleges and universities across the nation are now required to comply with U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’ changes to Title IX, a 1972 law prohibiting discrimination at federally funded higher education institutions based on gender. While initially mostly discussed in the context of gender equity in school athletics, Title IX has become better known in recent years as a tool to ensure appropriate school response to sexual harassment and misconduct.
Why We Oppose the New Rules
In short, the new Trump/DeVos Title IX rules allow schools and the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR), in its enforcement capacity, to ignore much of the sexual harassment that occurs in schools and make it significantly harder for victims to obtain relief necessary to maintain access to their education and deter reporting.
They limit the responsibility of schools to effectively respond to students seeking relief from sexual harassment, restrict the conduct to which schools must respond, narrow the scope of the required school response, mandate specific procedures and standards that favor accused students and impose hurdles on victims, and exceed or conflict with both Title IX and Constitutional mandates.
Girls of color, students with disabilities, and LGBTQ students disproportionately experience sexual harassment and assault, so they will be disproportionately harmed by these rules.
Know Your Rights!
A recent poll shows revealed a general lack of knowledge around the new Title IX regulations, which is not surprising: The rules are complicated, the Trump Administration’s messaging obscures the harm to survivors, and the news cycle has been dominated by COVID-19 for months.
However, it’s more important than ever to know the rules to effectively navigate them–especially since the new rules require students to follow specific protocols to file a complaint, but do not require schools to inform parents what that protocol looks like.
Meanwhile, most schools are focused on trying to assess how to safely offer education amid the chaos of the pandemic.
Start by reviewing our summary of the new Title IX rules when they were first proposed. Follow up by contacting the Title IX coordinator of your or your child’s school and ask for them to send you any relevant materials on how they are implementing the rules or to walk you through it if they do not have the information published.
What Can You Do? Join Us at “Advancing Survivor Justice in Philadelphia” on August 17
WLP is a proud community partner of the Survivors’ Agenda, a collaborative effort to build power to end sexual violence.
The agenda’s primary goal is to center survivors in advocacy for improving institutional response to sexual violence by deeply listening to survivors, expanding the constituency of stakeholders, and developing an advocacy agenda that reflects the true needs of people most affected by systemic failures to address sexual harassment and violence.
On August 17, please join us at “Advancing Survivor Justice in Philadelphia,” a virtual event that will be featured on Zoom and Facebook Live from 6PM – 7PM EST.
WLP attorney Amal Bass will discuss survivor justice in Philadelphia alongside LaQuisha Anthony of V.O.I.C.E. Inc. and WOAR Philadelphia Center Against Sexual Violence; Farrah Parkes of the Gender Justice Fund; and Preeti Pathak of Educators for Consent Culture (ECC). The discussion will be moderated by Denise Beek of the Me Too Movement.
Register here.
You are also invited to attend the Survivors’ Agenda summit next month. The Survivors’ Summit is a three-day virtual convening of survivors, movement-makers, healers, and activists. From September 24-26, 2020, we will imagine what a world free of sexual violence looks like and how we want to use our collective voices, strength, and power to make it possible.
The Women’s Law Project is a public interest law center in Pennsylvania devoted to advancing and defending the rights of women, girls, and LGBTQ+ people in Pennsylvania and beyond.
August 2020: Our physical offices are still closed due to the pandemic but we are OPEN and working to serve your needs. Contact us here. Sign up for WLP’s Action Alerts. Stay up to date by following us on twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
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