NWLC Responds to Department of Education’s Gutting of Protections For Sexual Assault Survivors

(Washington, D.C.) Today, the Department of Education released finalized regulations that radically weaken the federal enforcement of Title IX protections against sexual assault and other forms of sexual harassment in schools.

The following is a statement by Fatima Goss Graves, President and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC):

“Betsy DeVos and the Trump Administration are dead set on making schools more dangerous for everyone – even during a global pandemic. Releasing this rule during the unprecedented challenges of COVID-19 unveils a disturbing set of priorities. And if this rule goes into effect, survivors will be denied their civil rights and will get the message loud and clear that there is no point in reporting assault. We refuse to go back to the days when rape and harassment in schools were ignored and swept under the rug. And we won’t let DeVos succeed in requiring schools to be complicit in harassment, turning Title IX from a law that protects all students into a law that protects abusers and harassers. We will fight this unlawful rule in the courts.”