My project and the content we have learned throughout the semester in this class all comes to a head and becomes very real, and painful, when applying it to the election and our future president. Title IX is something very important to women in colleges across the country and it becomes even more important when our new president steps into office in January and decides to interpret Title IX in their own unique ways. Where Trump’s campaign lacks in speaking of Title IX or campus sexual assault entirely, Hillary has been very open about her plans to increase campus sexual assault prevention across campuses. Her plan is guided by three core principles which are to provide comprehensive support to survivors, ensure a fair process for all, and increase prevention efforts. She talks about the need to redouble prevention efforts and start them earlier. Although Trump has been tight lipped, the Republican Party platform calls for removing the responsibility of colleges to investigate allegations of sexual assault. The Republican party states that reports of sexual assault should be investigated by civil authorities and prosecuted in the courtroom, not a faculty lounge. They have criticized the Obama administration’s policies regarding campus sexual assault and their interpretation of Title IX. This is not good.
My scrapbook showed a pamphlet about how rape rumors are building up to a protest at Miami’s campus. A newspaper clipping from the 70s. The women felt nothing had been done about their assault and there needed to be more awareness. This got me thinking about our election and how we are going to be LIVING in a country where our president is an accused perpetrator of sexual assault. His platform interprets Title IX in a NON beneficial way to women and he consistently proves he respects women in almost no way and thinks their place is in the bedroom. Its shocking we can take steps forward and find prevention efforts that work, but we haven’t implemented them. Its shocking we can have a presidential candidate, Hillary, who strongly stands against sexual assault and wants to increase prevention, but our other candidate is actually a perpetrator of it himself. Really makes me feel uneasy about our future and honestly, uneasy about campus sexual assault prevention entirely.
Posted 15th November 2016