Education & Athletics
Sexual Harassment and Assault on Campus
Sexual harassment and assault on college campuses remain a serious problem that campuses fail to address seriously. Students from around the Northwest report that policies and procedures are inadequate, not widely understood, or severely under-enforced.
Title IX and related state laws are intended to protect students from sexual harassment and assault and place enforcement obligations on campus personnel. The experience of sexual harassment or assault itself impedes survivors' educational opportunities. By failing to establish appropriate policies and procedures, schools compound that harm.
Many institutions do not have strong or clear policies and procedures for addressing sexual assault and harassment. Personnel responsible for implementing and enforcing these laws are often not trained, or do not respond appropriately when a student seeks help. Often, multiple contact points for student victims exist (such as campus police, student affairs, or residential advisors), but these resources are not well-coordinated. The result is that students often do not know where to report a complaint, what remedies to request, or how to appeal an adverse determination.
Even worse, some schools ignore warning signs regarding problem students, effectively condoning a culture in which gender-based violence is accepted. Other schools utilize harmful procedures—for example, forcing women raped by fellow students into mediation with their rapists.
We seek to improve campus policies and procedures that will help protect and enforce students' rights to be free from sexual harassment and assault. By investigating policies and procedures, and students' experiences with them, we are working to identify best practices. We will advocate for policy changes, legislation, or judicial enforcement of students' rights to an educational experience free of discrimination and gender-based violence.
Women's rights. Nothing less.
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