With Donald Trump winning the presidential election on Tuesday -- and with Republicans maintaining control of both the Senate and House of Representatives -- victims’ advocates worry that the White House’s five-year push to combat campus sexual assault may end with President Obama’s tenure.
Through detailed guidance documents and investigations at more than 200 institutions, the Obama administration made preventing campus sexual assault a signature issue of its Education Department. The administration's updated interpretation of the federal gender discrimination law Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 allowed the White House to sharply increase the enforcement efforts of the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. The intensified focus on campus sexual assault and Title IX prompted an outpouring of complaints and lawsuits against colleges and universities over allegations they mishandled reports of sexual violence.
Trump, who has faced allegations of sexual assault and criticism over his treatment of women, has said little about how he would approach sexual violence on college campuses. While his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, reached out to several victims' organizations during the election, Trump contacted none. His lack of a plan has worried many victims’ advocates, and comments made during the campaign by some of Trump’s surrogates suggesting that, if elected, Trump would scale back Title IX, or even eliminate the Department of Education or the Office of Civil Rights, caused more concern.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/11/10/trump-and-gop-likely-try-scale-back-title-ix-enforcement-sexual-assault