Sexual Violence Probes at Colleges Arise From Obama Push on Civil Rights Issues
What has become a national uprising against the scourge of sexual assault on college campuses started three years ago with a 19-page letter from an obscure agency in Washington.
Sexual violence was not only a crime that could land a perpetrator in jail, the Office for Civil Rights in the Education Department told schools in April 2011. It was also a form of harassment prohibited by federal anti-discrimination law, a declaration that required colleges to take vigorous steps to prevent sexual violence and provide a “prompt and equitable” response whenever cases arose.
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The letter from the Obama administration helped encourage survivors of rape and other forms of sexual assault to lodge grievances with the federal government, with widening consequences for higher education.
“It was the first time any administration had called out sexual violence as a civil rights issue,” Catherine E. Lhamon, assistant education secretary for civil rights, said of the letter. “It was a shot across the bow.”
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