A national conversation on sexual violence on college campuses has emerged in recent years, and for good reason. According to a survey conducted by the Association of American Universities, nearly one in four college-aged women will suffer a sexual assault during her four years at school.
Despite this high rate of violence, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos in a speech Sept. 7 threatened to curtail Title IX enforcement. DeVos suggested that the Department of Education would rewrite the so-called “Dear Colleague” letter, a key Obama administration document that clarified what schools should provide to survivors under Title IX.
If the Department of Education rescinds the “Dear Colleague” letter, students will be less able to understand their rights. Schools that are under investigation for mishandling sexual assault cases will also return to their old ways of sweeping sexual violence incidents under the rug.
I know the danger of this threat from personal experience. When I was a sophomore at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, I endured the devastating trauma and aftereffects of sexual violence.
One night, a stranger walked me back to my dorm room and raped me. Although I was visibly impaired in the hour leading up to the assault, at least four people saw me with my attacker and did nothing. At the time, my experience of being assaulted while intoxicated didn’t make much sense to me; it was 2012, and rape education and prevention was not a priority at my university.
I was left with little more than a feeling that something went terribly wrong that night and a rapist walked away unscathed. Not long afterward, I fell into a deep depression and experienced symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. I suffered from self-harm and disordered eating. Even now, I haven’t fully healed, and I carry my attack with me in the form of daily fear and anxiety.
However, in the five years since my attack, UMass has brought sexual assault awareness to the forefront of its students’ education. In the fall of 2013, the university announced a new program, UMatter at UMass. The program was designed to bring students together who otherwise felt disconnected.
In 2014, the school introduced the second half of the program, aimed at preventing sexual assault. One of the focal points of the initiative is educating students about bystander intervention, something that could have stopped my own assault from happening.
Thanks to student activism, the “Dear Colleague” letter, and strong federal enforcement of Title IX under the Obama administration, my state’s flagship university has started to protect students’ access to campus resources. By the end of 2014, 1,200 students and 450 resident assistants and resident directors were enrolled in bystander intervention training, and every incoming freshman was trained. In 2015, UMass designed a new Title IX website in order to help students access resources.
These hard-fought gains are now at risk. If Betsy DeVos and the Department of Education weaken the “Dear Colleague” letter and scale back Title IX enforcement, our campuses could return to how they were on the unforgettable night I was raped. That would be devastating to me and the thousands of other sexual assault victims on college campuses each year.
Caroline Lasorsa, a 2014 graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, now lives in New York City.