rich 1.0 Action Network https://actionnetwork.org <link href='https://actionnetwork.org/css/style-embed-v3.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><script src='https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v6/petition/edactnow-to-undo-devos-attack-on-survivors-rights?format=js&source=widget'></script><div id='can-petition-area-edactnow-to-undo-devos-attack-on-survivors-rights' style='width: 100%'><!-- this div is the target for our HTML insertion --></div> Know Your IX https://actionnetwork.org/groups/know-your-ix-2 https://can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/petitions/photos/000/258/262/normal/Copy_of_Hands.png Dear Secretary Cardona and Acting Assistant Secretary Goldberg, Schools are failing student survivors of gender-based violence. For decades, student survivors have made their voices heard and demanded their government and institutions protect their safety and access to education. But time and time again, institutions have ignored survivors' stories, swept their complaints under the rug, and forced them to continue facing harassment and violence because of their failure to prioritize survivors' safety. In 2017, the Department of Education (ED) and the White House were just beginning to tackle the epidemic of sexual violence in education. After survivors shared their most painful and personal stories to demand that the Department take action, ED issued guidance reminding schools of their legal obligations to survivors and made clear that the government would hold schools accountable for violating student survivors’ rights. This gave us hope that schools would finally begin to prioritize the safety of their students — but we knew the fight was far from over. Sadly, today, we are even farther from Title IX’s core commitment — to ensure students are able to learn free from violence. When previous Education Secretary Betsy DeVos took office, she did everything in her power to roll back the rights of student survivors and make it easier for schools to dismiss pervasive sexual violence. In doing so, Secretary DeVos furthered a culture of impunity that allowed administrators at all levels to effectively push survivors out of school and make campuses less safe. Now, thanks to DeVos’s anti-survivors Title IX rule, schools can ignore certain survivors’ complaints of sexual violence with little consequence. DeVos’s Title IX rule does more to prioritize protecting schools that value their bottom lines over the safety of their students. Experts worried the rules would reduce the number of survivors who report their assaults. What’s more, schools are retaliating against survivors to keep them silent and prevent them from actualizing our Title IX rights. Students across the country are facing punishment and threats of defamation suits when they report to their schools. Survivors are suffering because ED has given schools the green light to turn their back on survivors, but we’re not backing down. Today, student survivors are more likely to drop out of school (or be pushed out) because of sexual violence and their institutions’ failures to take their complaints seriously. But you have the power to do something about it. As President Biden said, “[a]ny backstepping on Title IX is unacceptable.” That’s why we demand that the Department of Education take action immediately to support the rights of student survivors who are living with the real life consequences of DeVos’s Title IX rule — and their school’s apathy toward their safety and education — each and every day. We demand: The Department of Education issue a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) by April 1st, 2021. Survivors don’t have the luxury of waiting for the government to take their safety and rights seriously. Survivors are being denied the most basic protections because they weren’t assaulted or harassed at the right place, by the right person, or at the right time. Every single day that goes by only increases the numbers of survivors who will be forced to suffer because of DeVos’s Title IX rule and their school’s failure to protect their education. Your Department of Education must act swiftly to ensure that no survivor is pushed out of school because of sexual violence and harassment. Issue interim guidance. This guidance should prioritize ensuring that survivors have access to accommodations and supportive measures — like mental health resources, academic accommodations, and safety support — especially in light of COVID-19. Conduct a listening tour. It is imperative that any future Title IX regulation and guidance is informed by the lived experiences of student survivors. To do this, prior to issuing an NPRM, ED must meet with student survivors and their advocates to ensure the rule will meet the needs of student survivors who utilize Title IX to protect their education. Ensure survivors can file complaints when their rights are violated. In 2020, DeVos’s Department of Education altered the case processing manual to limit the amount of students who could seek help from the Office for Civil Rights. Currently, students have only 180 days from the alleged discrimination. That means that for many survivors, they would have to file a complaint with the Department of Education before their case even concludes. This must be rewritten so that complainants can file within 180 days from the most recent instance of discrimination instead of the first instance. Secretary Cardona and Acting Assistant Secretary Goldberg, you have the power to return Title IX to its intended purpose: to keep survivors in school and ensure that every student has the right to an education free from gender violence. Secretary DeVos’ rule drastically undermined this intended purpose. We refused to stay quiet when the Trump administration attempted to silence us, and we will continue to use our voices to demand your administration keep your commitment to prioritizing comprehensive, meaningful protections for survivors under Title IX. We are counting on your Department of Education to hear our demands, take action, and provide us with the protections we deserve. https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/edactnow-to-undo-devos-attack-on-survivors-rights