When I wrote the Violence Against Women Act in 1990, domestic violence and sexual assault were taboo subjects. “It’s a family issue,” I was told time and again. “This isn’t something that should be discussed in public.” I made it one of the causes of my career to change that. To help lift up the voices of courageous survivors: the model in New York City who was slashed in the face because she declined the advances of her landlord; the college student in small town Pennsy...lvania who didn’t think she was raped because she “knew him”; the wife of a cop in Virginia who couldn’t get out of her own car in her own driveway because she worried the robber who raped her was still out there. Because we will only have succeeded in this fight when we have changed the culture so that no man ever thinks he has the right to raise his hand to a woman, and no woman ever asks herself what she did wrong.
I’m extremely proud of the progress we’ve made in the past few decades in so many areas, but we still have much more work to do on college campuses. Today, an estimated one in five college women will be assaulted on campus. One in five. We can, and must, do more.
This summer, we will celebrate the 45th anniversary of the enactment of Title IX, a law that many people rightly associate with expanded access to education for women. In 2011, President Obama and I took steps to hold universities accountable under Title IX for sexual assaults on their campuses.
We made clear that under the law, any university or college receiving federal funding must promptly and fairly investigate every complaint of sexual violence — whether or not a criminal report is also filed. We also made clear that Title IX required schools to adopt and publish a process to handle allegations of sexual assault, publish a notice of non-discrimination and appoint an employee to be responsible for compliance with Title IX.
These important protections are making students safer. They are ensuring that colleges and universities are held accountable for what happens to students entrusted to their care, and that complaints are being investigated and resolved in a way that respects the rights of everyone involved. Title IX enforcement — alongside improved prevention and education programs, and support services for victims — is helping to change our college culture to reject sexual violence and protect survivors. Because no parent should have to wonder when they drop their daughter, or their son, off at college if she or he will be safe.
If you want to learn more about the fight to end sexual assault and domestic violence, visit http://bidenfoundation.org/p…/ending-violence-against-women/
