Our View: The Department of Education has stepped up enforcement of its sexual assault policies for universities. It’s about time.
In April, the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights sent a letter to university officials across the country, clarifying the requirements of current gender non-discrimination laws in respect to universities’ sexual assault policies. This letter did not change the existing policy; it simply explained exactly how they expected the policy to be applied. Some universities scrambled to make changes to bring their aging sexual assault policies in line with these expectations.
The points in this letter, and the policy changes inspired by them, have since come under fire. The efficacy and fairness of the Department of Education’s policy is the subject for another debate. A debate that must be had, yes, but not by critiquing the department for finally enforcing its own requirements.
Sexual assault is an epidemic. The headlines have been filled with incidents of sexual assault at respected universities, controversial because of the slowness and impotency of the administrative response under policies too long unchanged. Nearly 20 percent of women and 6 percent of men will be victims of sexual assault during their time at college, according to a federally funded research organization, the National Criminal Justice Reference Service. For women, that’s nearly one in four.
On top of that, sexual assaults are vastly under-reported nationwide, according to the research and evaluation arm of the Department of Justice. And the World Health Organization has reported that victims are significantly more likely to suffer academically, to experience depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, to abuse alcohol and drugs, and to contemplate suicide.
In light of the seriousness of this trend, it’s contemptible that the Department of Education has gone so long without such a clarification and renewed enforcement. Universities are doing the long-overdo right thing, and it’s unfortunate that commentators have taken this as an opportunity to attack those universities and the department.
These policies require universities to inform victims of their rights and to educate faculty, staff and students about prevention and reporting. They mandate that the system be in place, and readily accessible, for pursuing administrative proceedings against accused attackers. These are incredibly important features, and ones that should not be taken for granted. If there are problems with specific features of the policy, surely we can find better ways to discuss them than by taking aim at the entire list of essential and beneficial requirements.
We’re proud of U. Oklahoma’s recent changes to the statute of limitations on sexual assault. It’s a move that strengthens the university’s overall sexual assault policy and shows OU’s commitment to preventing sexual violence. It’s about time the rest of the nation’s universities caught up.