Do Better, OCR.

Do Better, OCR.

By Tiffany Hester
Senior Attorney, Victim Rights Law Center

Think back to your high school experience. What was your biggest stressor? Was it arguments with friends? Was it grades? Was it your physical appearance? These are all very big problems in a high schooler’s world. But can you picture, as a 14-year-old, how your world would shatter if another student sexually assaulted you at school and no one, at any level, did anything to support you or hold the other student accountable?

Imagine telling a teacher what happened, but they don’t believe you or offer any help. Then you learn that, under a federal law called Title IX, the school should have responded to your disclosure by offering supportive measures and an opportunity to request an investigation. You feel betrayed by the adults at school who were supposed to protect you, and you don’t want other students to have the same devastating experience. When you find out that you can file a complaint against the school with the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR), you believe that the school will be held accountable and change its ways. So, you file the complaint. OCR opens an investigation. And you wait. Years pass before OCR reaches out, not to give you an update on the case, but to request more information from you. You’re now an adult and you’re still waiting for OCR to finish the investigation and to hold the school accountable.

Unfortunately, this hypothetical is a reality for too many student survivors. With the new presidential administration in 2020, VRLC was hopeful for positive changes in how OCR processes and resolves complaints, but that hasn’t come to pass. For that reason, VRLC, joined by 21 other organizations, sent a letter to OCR urging very specific and actionable changes before the current administration ends. Some of these changes are very simple, like a commitment to giving complainants scheduled and ongoing case updates.

I encourage you to advocate for these changes too. It’s the least we can do for student survivors.

Tiffany Hester (she/her) is a Senior Attorney on Victim Rights Law Center’s national training and consultation team. She leads the Youth in Education Settings project, which focuses on building capacity nationally for legal advocates and civil attorneys to support student survivors in K-12 schools. Previously, Tiffany worked at the Kansas State Department of Education where she trained and monitored school districts for compliance with special education law.