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Betsy Devos Needs to Stand Up for Victims of Sexual Assault

Brittany Sherman
Her Campus Placeholder Avatar Allie Maniglia
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at PSU chapter.

When President Trump decided to appoint Betsy Devos as our Secretary of Education, I was skeptical. Actually, skeptical was an understatement. What I was, and continue to be, is worried. In the few long months that she has spent in office, Ms. Devos has managed to confirm my greatest fear: she does not truly understand or care about the safety of students.

Earlier this month we were told that Ms. Devos was planning to rewrite the rules on campus sexual assault. When addressing George Mason University, she said “Through intimidation and coercion, the failed system has clearly pushed schools to overreach.” On Friday she decided to end this so called “intimidation” by issuing temporary rules that could ultimately bring more protection to students who have been accused of sexual assault. These new guidelines will allow universities to raise their evidentiary standard requirements, something that the Obama-Administration had previously lowered in order to force universities to aggressively attack the problem of sexual assault on campus. As these are interim rules, they are optional for universities.

The issue of sexual assault on college campuses across the country is not one to be taken lightly. As a country, this is a problem that we have accepted as simply a dark spot on the basic college experience. But this is not a dark spot of college, this is a dark spot of humanity. As a society, it is our duty to protect victims of sexual assault. Victims deserve to have their voice heard, but Ms. Devos’ policy change seems to disagree. While the changes made by the Obama-Administration in terms of college and university requirements for sexual assault were far from perfect, to reverse them altogether seems like both a slap in the face to victims, and a helping hand to perpetrators.

Because of this I am worried and I am angry. I am worried that victims will be too afraid to seek help; I am angry that they have to deal with this situation in the first place. We cannot sit idly by as victims of assault are silenced. We must do more.

If you or someone you know is a victim of sexual assault, please know that you are not alone. These resources are here to help:

 

Centre County Women’s Resource Center:

(814) 234-5050

 

CAPS (Mon-Fri, 8am-5pm):
(814) 863-0395

 

Penn State Crisis Line (24/7):
(877) 229-6400

 

National Sexual Assault Hotline (RAINN) or telephone:

800-656-4673

Brittany Sherman is a junior at Penn State, majoring in Criminology with minors in Psychology and Political Science. She is a workaholic, avid TedTalk watcher, and Leslie Knope wannabe. She also makes bomb banana bread, and dreams of casually running into Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
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Allie Maniglia served as the Campus Correspondent for Her Campus at Penn State from 2017-2018. She majored in public relations with minors in international studies and communication arts and sciences. If she's not busy writing away, you can find her planning her next adventure (probably back to the U.K.), feeding an unhealthy addiction to HGTV or watching dog videos on YouTube.