Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Title IX

Prior to Mrs. Brandt's presentation, I always associated Title IX with collegiate sports. I thought it was a law that stated women and men had to be granted equal opportunity in sports. Thus equal funding, equal facilities, equal publicity, etc.. But now I know that it goes beyond just sports. Title IX calls for all forms of equality in colleges, not just within athletics.

While watching the video, I was shocked at the statistics. All of these students were reporting incidents of sexual assault to their colleges, yet none were taking it as seriously as it should. I understand that schools want to protect their prestigious name so they can still draw in a crowd of impressive applicants, but when it is at the expense of other student's safety, that seems to be a bit ridiculous. Colleges are looking for moral and quality students to come to their schools, yet their approach in this situation is anything but moral. It is quite horrifying that nearly one in every four girls are sexually assaulted at their time in college. This number is as large as it is because nothing is be done about it. No school is putting their student's safety over their school's reputation, and that needs to change. People should feel safe at college, as their parents should feel safe sending their students there, since it is essentially their new home. With statistics like this, and barely anything being done to improve those statistics, I would be very concerned to send my child off to some of these schools.

I found it very interesting as to how the two girls in the movie used Title IX to help their case. They argued that if their assailant was still on campus, they did not have an equal opportunity to learn. This point is very valid, as they would constantly be afraid and distracted. I found it incredibly disturbing how in the courtroom, the school continued to deny there was an issue. The issue was clear and prevalent, yet they turned their cheek to it. Also, when Harvard let the student who sexually assaulted another girl and her friend back into the law program, I was appalled. How could they justify that? This man very clearly BROKE the law, yet he is en route to getting a law degree. There is still so much that needs to be done at the college level to better prevent these assaults from happening in the future. I believe that the Department of Education needs to further enforce Title IX and how it applies to all aspects of equality. Schools need to be punished for failing to act appropriately on sexual assault allegations. People should be able to go to their school and trust that they will do something about this awful thing, and right now, they cannot in most places.


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