Controversial Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has once again made news after speaking at George Mason University on Sep. 7 in Arlington, Virginia. It didn't end well.
In this meeting, DeVos revealed she will begin reviewing the Obama-era Title IX guidelines.
Title IX is a part of the Education Amendments Act of 1972. This is accepted nationwide by all colleges and universities. The amendment protects individuals from being excluded, discriminated against or denied benefits, due to their sex.
DeVos lost any credibility that she was already lacking, stating she would like to protect the accused from false rape, sexual assault and harassment allegations.
I do not call this protection. I call this being a rape apologist.
Many critics tend to believe that Title IX is sexist against men which simply is not the case.
Yes, most acts of assault tend to impact women, but that does not change that assault can happen to anyone despite age, weight, height, race, religion or gender.
Which is why Title IX exists, to protect all people. Attending college is a scary time. A person is exploring themselves, their sexuality and they’re shaping themselves for the rest of their lives.
Nothing can impact their time at university and in the real world more than an assault. Universities have always had a long, controversial history with how to deal with the assaults, even with the Title IX amendment in place.
DeVos tried to tip-toe around what she actually wanted to say. The new revisions of the Title IX amendment would involve making it required to get more solid, concrete evidence before any sort of trial or decision.
“But I don’t understand why that’s a bad thing? False accusations can hurt someone just as much as a rape could.”
Partly, you are right. False accusations do have the potential to destroy someone’s life, but when it comes down to it, this is clear sexism. This is clearly in favor of the man in the alleged assault.
The Brock Turner case is a prime example of our flawed judicial system. Even with all of the evidence, Turner only received six months in jail and only served three months.
The reasoning behind this decision was because serving years in prison would ruin his life, and many people agree. Saying things like, “How can we throw away this young man's future because of some girl getting drunk?”
Let’s face it, in many cases a false accusation will never land the alleged into a jail cell because no matter what, the victim will always be one piece of evidence short of landing a conviction.
So, DeVos, you are telling me that in a court system that tends to only favor the security of a rapist, needs to have stricter evidence guidelines in order to protect a rapist?
The future of a rapist is more important than another person’s security, innocence and dignity?
We do not need stricter rules.
We need to implement ways to ensure that this is a decision not dictated by a judge’s affiliation with the alleged, or their own personal bias.
We need to start teaching the idea of consent at a young age.
We need to stop teaching that abstinence is the best method.
We need to start believing anyone who may have been abused. Whether they are men, women, non-binary, transgender, etc.
So, Betsy DeVos, how about instead of protecting an abuser, you take the victim into account, and just stop reinforcing that abuse is okay and that it is hopeless for a victim to report.
If you cannot protect your students, you have no place to hold a public office.
