1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

Congress must halt the Trump administration's illegal dismantling of civil rights enforcement at the Department of Education. Students across this country depend on Title IX protections to learn free from sexual harassment and discrimination. Gutting the office and rules responsible for enforcing those protections isn't reform — it's abandonment. In effect, the Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon sides with criminals, rapists, harassers, and other similarly abusive people. The Trump administration just finalized a rule resurrecting the anti-survivor 2020 regulations, which made it harder for students to report sexual misconduct and easier for schools to ignore it. Those rules were built on the sexist premise that students — especially women and girls — lie about assault. Meanwhile, cases like those at Cornell and LSU show exactly what happens when institutions are given cover to protect abusers instead of survivors. Congress needs to act now: restore civil rights enforcement capacity at the Department of Education and pass explicit statutory protections for student survivors of all races, backgrounds, and genders. Students' safety cannot be left to the whim of politicians who have already shown they don't take sexual violence seriously. Hold hearings. Thank you.