How Men's Rights Groups Helped Rewrite Regulations on Campus Rape

[Nevilledog]

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The Nation
@thenation
Nearly 3,000 pages of emails reveal that the Department of Education worked with men’s rights groups to rewrite the rules on campus sexual assault and harassment.

How Men’s Rights Groups Helped Rewrite Regulations on Campus Rape
E-mails shared with The Nation reveal a deep collaboration between the Department of Education and organizations that believe in a crisis of false rape allegations.
thenation.com
9:00 PM · Aug 17, 2021

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/betsy-devos-title-ix-mens-rights/

In July 2017, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos held a summit on Title IX, the 1972 federal statute that bans discrimination on the basis of sex at universities. Inside the Department of Education building, she met with the National Coalition for Men Carolinas (NCFMC), Families Advocating for Campus Equality (FACE), and Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE), three organizations that claim there is a crisis of false rape allegations against male college students. Outside, despite the sweltering heat in Washington, D.C., more than a 100 people rallied, hoping to prevent the department from rolling back protections for students who are victims of rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment. “Dear Betsy,” one sign read. “Help end rape culture, don’t perpetuate it.”

Nearly 3,000 pages of e-mails obtained by the anti-corruption organization Democracy Forward through a Freedom of Information Act request and shared with The Nation reveal that the July 2017 meeting was part of a much deeper collaboration between the DOE and these men’s rights groups. From May to September 2017, the DOE’s Office of Civil Rights partnered with NCFMC, FACE, and SAVE to develop regulations on campus sexual assault. E-mails make clear that staffers from these organizations participated in conference calls, offered legal advice, and met with high-level employees at the Department of Education. The DOE even hired the main funder of SAVE to help draft new regulations and teamed up with FACE to try to produce supportive op-eds.

The views of these groups have never been hidden. In public and in e-mails with DOE employees, members of these organizations have demeaned the credibility of young women, ridiculed sexual assault survivors, and pushed junk science on campus rape.

In September 2017, DeVos announced that she would rescind Obama-era guidance on how educational institutions should handle sexual assault. A year later, the DOE published its new proposed regulations; this week, two federal courts declined to stop them from being implemented, following one lawsuit from 17 states and the District of Columbia and another by New York school boards; and so today they go into effect.

*snip*

[ismnotwasm]

1. They've always been disturbed

They used to be here on DU

[Walleye]

2. I'm sorry. Men's rights? Pass the equal rights amendment it makes everybody you know equal

[Hekate]

3. Betsy deVos

I will refrain from saying what I think of that woman

[gratuitous]

4. More of the former guy's legacy

I sure hope nobody Betsy loves or is related to ever has to deal with the consequences of her monstrous policies.

[Ohio Joe]

5. The right wing incel problem just keeps getting worse - nt

[Solly Mack]

6. I get the feeling her brother Erik was rightfully accused more than once in his high school/college

years.

[lindysalsagal]

7. Plus, colleges dislike bad press and scary statistics.

By re-writing the responsibilities, reporting paperwork, and definitions, the numbers seemed to plummet. Same goes for underage drinking and other accidents.