Statement from Jess Davidson, Executive Director of End Rape on Campus:
“Accountability and transparency are necessary for schools to protect students’ rights and support survivors. It’s essential that the seriousness of Michigan State University’s failures resulted in a historic financial penalty, and at the same time, I find this penalty insufficient compared to the harm caused, especially in the face of the manipulative contradictions shown between what Secretary DeVos said and did today, and her multitude of other harmful actions and policies on Title IX,” shared Jess Davidson, End Rape on Campus Executive Director.
“It’s ludicrous that DeVos claimed she believes that sexual violence must never again be swept under the rug in today’s Department of Education press release, given that the Department of Education is about to release a final Title IX rule that will do just that: their proposed rule would encourage every school in America to treat sexual assault with the same lack of accountability that Michigan State displayed. A single act of accountability for one school, in a case garnering high levels of media attention and public pressure, does not make up for the massive amount of long-term harm DeVos’ Title IX rule has the potential to inflict. In fact, had Nassar’s abuse taken place under DeVos’ potential new rule, her own policy would have found no wrongdoing.”
