Survivors face backlash

Advocating political and cultural change engenders backlash. Student survivors of sexual assault successfully pushed many educational institutions to do their Title IX duties in the last decade despite ongoing, painful pushback. They worry for the student survivors of gun violence who now command the media spotlight but face attacks from opponents of gun control. “Young people are really, really powerful and really savvy,” says Sage Carson, manager of the non-profit organization Know Your IX. “These amazingly powerful organizations such as End Rape on Campus and Know Your IX were started by young people because they know how to work with […]

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Get ready for more Title IX fireworks

Happy 2018! In the new year, the backlash against Title IX will make more headlines as the Trump Administration continues to change regulations dealing with sex discrimination in education. Advocates for girls and women will push back and eventually move society two steps forward for every step back. We’ve seen this before, many times. Let’s take a look at the challenges that Title IX faced and overcame at this point in previous decades. It’s been a wild ride toward equity in education. The fun isn’t done. This timeline leaves out a lot, yet you can see patterns and progress: 1968 […]

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Senators should ask DeVos about Title IX

The U.S. Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee has at least another week to consider what it will ask Education Secretary nominee Betsy DeVos since it delayed her nomination hearing from Jan. 11th to next Wednesday, Jan. 18. My suggestion: Ask her about Title IX. Does she understand that it’s a civil law operating under civil procedures, not criminal ones? Does she agree that Title IX is important for elementary and secondary schools as well as higher educational institutions? Is she aware that it’s about so much more than the hot-button issues of sports or sexual assault or transgender bathrooms? For the […]

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