Goodbyes are never easy.

We struggle with goodbye when we have to leave a friendship or when it’s announced that our favorite TV show will be leaving Netflix at the end of the month.

As America extends a farewell to President Barack Obama and prepares for President-elect Donald Trump to take over the reins, they also prepare to say goodbye to Obamacare and “every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum and order issued by President Obama” (Trump, 2016.)

In simpler words, we can expect radically different legal landscapes for campus sexual assaults as Trump plans to reverse Obama’s actions on college sexual assault.

The Obama administration succeeded in bringing awareness to campus sexual assault and opened up hundreds of investigations of schools for possible violations of Title IX – “the federal law that prohibits discrimination in education on the basis of gender” – over the manner in which the schools dealt with campus sexual assaults. However, many see this as a set of “overly aggressive  enforcement actions” and seek to raise the burden of proof.

This all comes after students who were found guilty of sexual assault filed lawsuits alleging their due process rights were violated during the investigation and ruling of the cases.

Advocates for accused students wish to raise the current lowest possible burden of proof, the “preponderance of evidence” standard to the obstinate “clear and convincing” standard. Another approach that is being considered is the “de-federalizing” of the campus sexual assault issue.

Law enforcement will be given greater deference which can result in an accused student being found innocent in court, but guilty in school

As a senior in high school with college looming over the horizon, I am excited for what the future has in store for me. In the midst of deciding what building to dorm in, what classes to take, and what social activities I should partake in, it seems like the last thing on my mind should be the possibility of drug-rape or sexual assault.

But it’s not. I’ve already had the talk with my father who is becoming increasingly concerned for his daughter’s safety as more and more news reports file in about fraternities encouraging students to engage in nonconsensual sex if provided with the opportunity and rapists whose sentences are overturned or reduced (cough Brock Turner cough). 

Trump’s rumored policies concerning such an issue creates a frightening environment for women who wish to seek out an education. No student should ever have to compromise their morals, their dignity, or their body in search of a better future and let’s hope that under Trump’s administration no one ever shall.

Signing off,
Joanne