1/ A thread to expand on my comment yesterday re: the (lost) promise of #Title IX. And let’s see if I can actually build a thread correctly today!
2/ #TitleIX is a civil rights law that guarantees access to educational opportunities regardless of sex. Years ago, this was interpreted to mean that we have a right to go to college without enduring sexual harassment and rape.
3/ Research clearly demonstrates that sexual assault has myriad negative effects on health, mental health, relationships, and also the ability to access and engage in educational opportunities.
4/ In order for campuses to provide equal access to education, they need to prevent and respond to sexual assault in a way that preserves the victim’s ability to access educational opportunities. This is the promise of #TitleIX.
5/ #TitleIX said that sexual assault infringes on our right to exist free from violence so that we can fully participate in society, and more specifically in our education. Remember, it's a civil rights law.
6/ It’s a radical idea, and yet makes such perfect sense. The idea that we shouldn’t have to tolerate sexual assault and harassment just to get an education. That’s the promise of #TitleIX.
7/ So, as DeVos and the courts have focused more and more on due process and shaped the campus #TitleIX process into looking more and more like the criminal justice system, that promise is eroded.
8/ The criminal justice process has both failed to deliver justice to survivors and disproportionately negatively impacted communities of color. It's not exactly a system to hold up as having gotten it right.
9/ And yet, the latest #TitleIX regulations now force campuses to use hearings (complete with the “right” to hire a lawyer), cross-examination, an arbiter of what evidence counts and what questions can be asked, and a judge-like decision maker.
10/ More insidiously, the #TitleIX regs chip away at the incidents of sexual violence campuses are now obligated to investigate. By narrowing the scope (via geography, definition, route of disclosure), fewer incidents fall under Title IX.
11/ But students will not be any less harmed by these sexual assaults. They will suffer from PTSD at the same rate, for example, which can make schoolwork difficult. They will avoid places on campus to avoid their assailant, including labs, the library, classes.
12/ And therefore, survivors' access to education will suffer. And this is what #TitleIX is supposed to protect. But these new regs do the exact opposite and then also double-down on the broken criminal process.
13/ #TitleIX was never meant to be akin to criminal prosecution. It was meant to preserve access to educational opportunities, to allow survivors the chance to reach their full potential.
