fuckyeahfeminists: wagatwe:Join me, other survivors, and allies as we call on the Department of Ed
fuckyeahfeminists: wagatwe: Join me, other survivors, and allies as we call on the Department of Education to enforce Title IX. The law doesn’t just have to do with athletics; it guarantees equal access to education through adequate prevention and remedy of sexual violence. Many followers know this is a dear to me. Please sign the petition and tell the Dept of Ed all students deserve safer campuses. We are members of a group of hundreds of students and recent graduates fighting sexual violence at colleges and universities, driven by our own experiences of assault, harassment, and abuse on campus. Many of us filed complaints with the Department of Education’s Office of Civil rights because we feel our schools broke federal law by refusing to protect us either before or after we were assaulted. In fact, the Department of Education has only ever publicly found one school to be in noncompliance with the law, even though a recent study suggests nearly two thirds of colleges in America don’t comply. We started this petition to demand that the Department of Education step up to hold colleges and universities publicly accountable for complying with federal law about protecting survivors of sexual assault like us. Indeed, one in four women will be raped by the time she graduates college. And, often, survivors are betrayed by the school administrations they turn to after their assault. In this past year alone, hundreds of survivors from dozens of schools have bravely shared their experiences. Almost all have been silenced or ignored by their campus administrations, and most have been forced to drop classes, clubs, sports teams, jobs – or abandon their educations entirely – in order to ensure their basic safety. These practices aren’t only unethical; they’re illegal. In 1972, Congress passed Title IX of the Education Amendments – the landmark civil rights legislation that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex and guarantees students the fundamental right to education free from sexual violence and harassment. Yet, over 40 years later, little has changed: according to the National Institute of Justice, nearly two in three schools don’t follow anti-violence law. Some of these schools have been investigated by the Department of Education (ED), the body charged with enforcing Title IX. But ED’s willingness to accept colleges’ promises to change their ways — rather than levy sanctions and publicly declare offending schools as “noncompliant” — isn’t working. In the face of ED’s leniency, schools aren’t changing their ways, and students continue to suffer sexual violence and institutional abuse. You may also come to the rally on Monday in Washington, DC outside the Dept of Ed HQ. Tumblr, I need your help in signal boosting. Colleges have been covering up campus rape for way too long. Please click the image/link, sign, and reblog. Word is that the Dept already is hearing us and we need to up the pressure. -- source link