To end sexual abuse on college campuses, resist the backlash against Title IX
OPINION | Ending sexual harassment on college campuses
Adapted from a story by The Washington Post’s opinions staff.
One best idea: Sexual harassment takes place everywhere. This is one in a series of posts about how various industries can change to stop sexual harassment. What’s your one best idea? Share it here.
Nancy Chi Cantalupo’s idea: Don’t backslide on Title IX
Cantalupo is an assistant professor of law and author of “For the Title IX Civil Rights Movement: Congratulations & Cautions.”
We will never solve the problem of sexual harassment and violence until we understand and address such conduct as the civil and human rights violation that it is. We must recognize that only in a society where women and gender minorities are truly equal will it be unacceptable to sexually abuse them. On college campuses, the best way to achieve that is to resist the backlash against Title IX and to continue its vigorous enforcement.
Since women first entered campuses for work, class and social activities — really, from the inception of higher education itself — sexual harassment and sexual violence have been a major issue for colleges and universities. Recent conversations about this reality have been painful, but they are also a reminder that the movement to end these problems has made extraordinary progress.
That’s because women on campus have a unique tool available to them that is not necessarily accessible to other women coming forward to share their #MeToo stories: Title IX. This groundbreaking 1972 civil rights statute accurately identifies sexual harassment and violence as unequal treatment and provides education officials with many, many strategies for achieving the truly equal cultures and attitudes that will eliminate sexual abuse.
Under Title IX’s banner, and with Vice President Biden’s particular support, from 2011 to 2016, survivors and their allies pressured schools to facilitate victim reporting of abuse, to use equal procedures for investigating harassment complaints, to offer educational programs targeting cultures supportive of sexual harassment and violence, and to debunk canards such as the claim that most campus sexual harassment is protected free speech.
We now know that vigorously following Title IX presents not only the most effective way to address sexual abuse in education but also an example for preventing all such harassment. We shouldn’t let the backlash to Title IX slow progress toward gender equality on campus, or short circuit this essential conversation in the wider world.
Other industries:
Emergency services
Domestic work
