This morning, we released a report drawing from our survey of over 100 student survivors who reported to their schools.
Our report outlines the alarming backlash survivors are facing when filing formal reports of sexual violence to their schools. Thread: knowyourix.org/thecostofrepor…
We found that 39% of survivors who reported to their schools experienced a substantial disruption in their educations.
These educational interruptions were not from sexual violence alone, but because of violence exacerbated by schools’ harmful responses to reports of violence.
When survivors report to their school, instead of receiving support, they are blamed for the violence, told the school will do nothing, face name calling by school officials, have their cases drawn out for years, and get punished for their own assaults after seeking help.
While Title IX is intended to ensure survivors’ equal access to education, we found that nearly every single survivor who reported experienced a negative impact on their GPA.
Instead of being offered support, survivors were denied basic accommodations and victim-blamed.
Instead of fulfilling their obligations under Title IX, schools commonly encouraged students to take time off. And interviews with survivors revealed that this encouragement was often for respondents’ benefit.
An emboldened backlash to the campus survivor movement and a massive decrease in Title IX enforcement by ED has led to institutional neglect for survivor safety, a shocking trend of retaliation, a weaponization of defamation suits, and high rates of survivor pushout from schools.
Our report outlines an alarming pattern: The weaponization of Title IX by to retaliate against survivors and the use of defamation suits to threaten survivors into silence.
In fact, more than 1 in 5 survivors who report to their school are threatened with a defamation suit.
We need your help to ensure these trends don’t continue and that students can access their education free from the harms of violence. Sign our petition to demand #EDActNow on Title IX: actionnetwork.org/petitions/edac…
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📢BREAKING: The Biden admin just released the proposed changes to the 2020 anti-survivor Title IX rule. This is a huge win, & it happened thanks to student organizing!!
Let’s break down the history of the rule, the process of changing it, & what the changes mean for students.🧵
Reminder, the 2020 #TitleIX reg was written with the help of MRAs who wanted to make it easier to get away with sexual violence–such as the National Coalition For Men, who claim laws intended to support survivors are based in “hysteria."
Title IX is turning 50 tomorrow, and the Biden administration still has not rolled back DeVos’ attacks on student survivors’ rights.
Join us to demand #EDActNow and tell the @usedgov why survivors need a new Title IX rule NOW.
@usedgov Survivors’ lives, futures, and educations depend on the Biden administration acting NOW to undo DeVos’ anti-survivor Title IX rule. Currently, about a third of survivors are pushed out of school.
Biden promised a “quick end'' to DeVos’ Title IX rule, but students may not see a new Title IX rule finalized until 2023 – 3 years after the DeVos rule went into effect. That’s millions of students who have been subjected to DeVos’ Title IX rule because of his admin’s failures.
Defamation cases are being used to silence survivors from school age and beyond. 23% of student survivors are threatened with a defamation suit by their abuser.
The decision in the Amber Heard and Johnny Depp case will silence survivors, and that was always the goal.
Perpetrators of violence have long manipulated systems, often ones meant to protect survivors, to continue their abuse.
What we saw today wasn’t the first time a court has been an avenue for abuse, and it won’t be the last.
The smear campaign against Amber Heard isn’t a silencing and discrediting tactic only celebrities face.
Student survivors who report and speak have shared that their abusers and others have attempted to keep them quiet through public attacks.
Today, on the 49th anniversary of Title IX, ED announced they will begin the process of issuing a proposed Title IX rule. This would alter DeVos’ Title IX rule that continues to harm survivors.
It’s an exciting step, but we have a long road ahead of us:🧵
ED announced they won’t be releasing the proposed rule until May 2022––and then it will go through the same notice and comment period that DeVos’ rule went through.
This means on ED's current timeline we might not have a new rule for years. But survivors can't wait that long.
We know that the most effective way to make change for survivors is through organizing. So here are 2 ways to plug in to organizing.
Here are 5 main ways that the parties on differing sides of a Title IX investigation actually have many interests that align. The Department should act decisively to protect all students in those arenas.
1⃣ED should ensure clear and prompt notice of school policies and procedures related to sexual misconduct. This means having clear policies about what constitutes sexual misconduct, a carefully delineated reporting and investigation process, and prompt and unambiguous notice.
🧵Thread: It's day 2 of the Title IX listening sessions. Follow along for quotes from survivors and those who support them on the current Title IX regulation, and what they would like to see in the new rule.
"I didn't feel like a student, I felt like a liability... in my Title IX process, I learned that schools will do anything to protect themselves, not survivors."
DeVos' rule prioritizes schools' bottom lines over survivors' access to education, that's why it has to go #EDActNow
Title IX Coordinators are joining the listening sessions to share that requiring schools to alter their campus policies within 3 months made it impossible for schools to work with stakeholders, especially students, to try and implement best practices under the regulations.