THREAD: Earlier today, Betsy DeVos released a set of proposed rules that amount to nothing less than an attack on students who experience sexual harassment, which includes sexual assault. Let’s break it down, and then let’s take it down. #HandsOffIX
Sexual trauma is a key driver of school pushout for girls, women, & nonbinary students. DeVos should know that. Yet she’s chosen to focus on shielding perpetrators & schools from the consequences of their actions, making schools more dangerous for all. on.nwlc.org/2LKsBFi
How is she going about it? First, she’s trying to narrow the definition of sexual harassment so severely that students would have to suffer repeated and worsening harassment before anyone in their school is required to help them.
DeVos is also trying to limit when a school has to help survivors based on who they tell. This would encourage the very cultures of complicity that allowed serial predators like Larry Nassar and Jerry Sandusky to repeatedly abuse students for decades. on.nwlc.org/2LKsBFi
Her rules would let schools conduct openly biased investigations that begin with the presumption that students who report sexual misconduct may be lying, instead of weighing both sides’ stories and futures equally.
Keep in mind: people face huge hurdles and risks when they come forward with their experiences of sexual harassment. Virtually everyone who does so is telling the truth. Dismissing these complaints often means putting others at risk of being abused by the same abuser.
Worse, as part of these sham investigations, survivors could be pressured to go through mediation or cross-examination procedures that force them into close contact with their perpetrators. The potential for retraumatization cannot be overstated.
These rules spring from glaringly sexist biases, spread in bad faith by people who value boys’ and men’s reputations more highly than everyone else’s safety. (And note: boys and men are far more likely to be victims of sexual assault than to be falsely accused of it.)
The premise of these draft rules is sexist, and the consequences for survivors would be devastating. Unfortunately, the issues we’ve described are just the tip of the iceberg of what’s wrong with these regulations.
Let’s be clear: Every person who works in schools has a moral obligation to protect every student. Every student has a moral and legal right to learn free of sexual harassment of any kind. And they all deserve a meaningful say over these rules. act.nwlc.org/onlineactions/…
Survivors, we see you. We believe you. We ARE you. You deserve to be safe and have the opportunity to learn without limits. It’s what justice demands. And it’s still what the law requires. #HandsOffIX on.nwlc.org/2Iws61C
