Federal government investigates American University’s handling of sexual assault complaint
Neena Chaudhry, director of education and senior counsel at the National Women’s Law Center, said that while schools have to protect confidentiality during the hearing process, they walk a fine line by instituting agreements because of the non-disclosure ban.
“There is concern that survivors of sexual assault are being silenced,” she said, noting that a number of schools have similar confidentiality agreements. “Requiring students to sign such agreements can have a chilling effect in terms of their ability to speak out about their experiences and problems they’ve faced in the way their schools have handled sexual assault.”