Murray: DeVos Decision to Rescind Protections for Campus Sexual Assault Survivors May Send Them “Back Into the Shadows”

DeVos rescinded 2011 guidance that has resulted in more students coming forward and allowing schools to better combat the epidemic of sexual assault on campuses across the country

Murray: DeVos “must reverse this decision immediately, instruct schools to take claims of sexual assault seriously, and start standing up for survivors”

(Washington, D.C.) – Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement on U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’ decision to rescind Obama Administration guidance that protect survivors and help colleges to combat the national epidemic of campus sexual assault. Despite growing concerns from survivors across the country, Secretary DeVos is continuing a pattern of undermining survivors’ rights and making it harder for justice to be served.

“Secretary DeVos has once again ignored the pleas from survivors of sexual assault and instead has decided to weaken protections for survivors and guidance for schools to investigate their claims. This harmful step in the wrong direction may cause survivors of sexual assault to go back into the shadows, allowing predators to continue to roam college campuses and the epidemic of college sexual assault to spread. She must reverse this decision immediately, instruct schools to take claims of sexual assault seriously, and start standing up for survivors.”

Last week, Senator Murray led her colleagues in a letter by 29 U.S. Senators to Secretary DeVos advising her not to create chaos and uncertainty by rescinding guidance that directs schools on how to handle investigations of campus sexual assault.

###