Instructions for Posting Your Open Letter Calling on Your School to #StopBetsy
Betsy DeVos and the Trump administration are rolling back the clock on campus rape. This will hurt survivors, students, and schools — especially because we’re in the “red zone”, the time of year when students are most likely to be sexually assaulted in college.
If you are as outraged as we are, then join us in writing OPEN LETTERS to university presidents, calling on them to hold the line and #StopBetsy from taking us backwards.
1. Watch our Facebook Live video for an overview of what’s at stake and how to write an open letter. We encourage you to get a few friends to watch and write letters together!
2. Write your open letter. We know that what works best can vary from campus to campus, so choose the approach that’s best for you.
As a group: Start a Google Doc with a team of people — for instance, students from commissions or student organizations combatting sexual assault — and start brainstorming your main points and then drafting your letter. Read Know Your IX’s open letter toolkit for more tips.
Get students, alumni, and faculty to sign on by creating a Google form where people can fill out their name, student position, class year, and any other useful information. See GW’s open letter and check out the Google form they used as examples.
As an individual: Write your letter as an individual to your college’s president and community. Read this survivor’s powerful letter to Harvard as an example.
3. Comment on this Medium post. Create a Medium account and write a comment on this post to let us know that you’re finished and ready for publication. (You can just write “I’m ready to submit from [NAME OF SCHOOL]” — don’t post the letter itself yet). We will then add you as a contributor to the official #StopBetsy publication.
4. Submit your piece for our collection of letters on Medium. Once we’ve added you as a contributor, copy your open letter, including signatures, to a Medium post and submit it to our official #StopBetsy publication. See here for more detailed instructions on how to submit a post. Feel free to submit your letter to student or local publications, as well, and feel free to share those links with us so we can update your posts.
5. Share widely. Share your open letter on social media with the hashtags #StopBetsy and #ReclaimRedZones. Be sure to tag @endrapeoncampus and @knowyourix so we can share them as well.
If you have any questions or need help with this process, feel free to reach out to info@endrapeoncampus.org.
This is week 4 of End Rape on Campus and Know Your IX’s 7-week#ReclaimRedZones campaign. Sign up here for new action alerts every week: endrapeoncampus.org/action-to-reclaim-redzones/
