Friday, January 24, 2014

The NCHERM Group President & CEO, Brett A. Sokolow, pens response to President Obama's creation of a task force on campus-based sexual violence

Dear President Obama,

I've read very carefully your announcement of a task force on campus sexual violence and the memorandum you signed this week to authorize it.  It's good to know that this topic continues to be a priority for your administration. The goals seem, at first blush, sufficiently noble. They include:
  • Provide educational institutions with best practices for preventing and responding to rape and sexual assault.
  • Build on the federal government’s enforcement efforts to ensure that educational institutions comply fully with their legal obligations. 
  • Improve transparency of the government’s enforcement activities.
  • Increase the public’s awareness of an institution’s track record in addressing rape and sexual assault.
  • Enhance coordination among federal agencies to hold schools accountable if they do not confront sexual violence on their campuses.

I'm sure the government officials you've appointed will call on subject matter experts so that the work of the task force is truly meaningful. As the task force seeks to learn what recommendations to make (in the brief 90 day window you have set out), I hope that some of these ideas might be among them.

Click here to read the full letter.

1 comment:

  1. Wait, the task force doesn't include ATIXA or even any higher ed professionals at all? I figured it had students maybe from Know Your IX and somebody from ATIXA, etc. Who the heck is on this thing? Blah.

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