Civil Rights Groups Urge Department of Education to Withdraw Title IX Proposed Rules

Civil Rights Enforcement News, Education News, Media 01.30,19

January 30, 2019

For Immediate Release
Contact: Shin Inouye, 202.869.0398, [email protected]

WASHINGTON –The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and 44 national and local education and civil rights groups sent a letter today to Assistant Secretary Ken Marcus and the Department of Education responding to the Department’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to amend rules implementing Title IX.

In the letter, the groups highlight how the NPRM will weaken critical rules to protect students from sexual harassment and violence and should be immediately withdrawn.

The groups write in part:

“Students deserve, and the law requires, a Department that works to protect all students from discrimination. The proposed rules are a cruel attempt to silence sexual assault survivors and deny them educational opportunities and could lead schools to do even less to prevent and respond to sexual violence and harassment. This NPRM would only reinforce unsafe school environments, deprive students of their right to an education and deny students equal protection of the law. As explained below, these proposed rules ignore the far-reaching harmful impact of sexual violence in schools; they would make it harder for students to report abuse; they would allow – and in some cases, force – schools to ignore reports when they are made; and they would unfairly tilt the investigation process in favor of named harassers to the direct detriment of survivors, all of which would cause particular harm to women and girls, students of color, students with disabilities, and LGBTQ students.”

The letter can be read in its entirety here.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its 200-plus member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.