MONTCLAIR, N.J. – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez today visited the Family Service League of Essex County’s crisis center in Montclair to discuss with several New Jersey victims’ rights advocates the recent decision by U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to relax Obama-era, Title IX guidelines aimed at protecting women and combating sexual assault on college campuses.

“We must continue to strengthen protections for victims, not roll them back. When a problem is as pervasive as this in our society, each one of us has a moral obligation to act, and this requires a national directive so that a New Jersey student is protected no matter where he or she goes to college,” said Sen. Menendez. “Secretary DeVos and the Trump Administration would like to reverse the progress we made under the Obama Administration’s Title IX guidance. That is why I’ve already called on the Secretary to reverse her decision and continue to enforce the existing guidance.”

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During a speech last week at George Mason University, Secretary DeVos announced her intent to rescind Obama Administration guidance on campus sexual assault, and restart a public comment process to replace it. The Obama-era guidance marked the first time that the U.S. Department of Education specifically required schools to combat sexual assault under Title IX using the “preponderance of evidence” evidentiary standard, rather than the “clear and convincing evidence” standard that some schools still used.

Sen. Menendez this week joined 27 Senate colleagues in a letter to Secretary DeVos urging her to keep in place the tighter guidelines.

“The current guidance is critical to ensuring that schools understand and take seriously their responsibilities under the law, and we urge you to leave the current guidance in place,” the letter stated. “Rescinding the guidance would be a step in the wrong direction in addressing the national epidemic of campus sexual assault.”

Title IX, which creates gender equality in education, states that no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

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The senator was joined by New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault (NJCASA) President Patricia Teffenhart, its statewide capacity manager, Liz Zadnik, and communications specialist, Marissa Marzano; Family Service League of Essex County Executive Director Christine Ferro-Saxon; Laura Luciano, the associate director of Rutgers University’s Office for Violence Prevention and Victim Prevention and Victim Assistance; Kat McGee, Ramapo College Title IX director; and Associate Director Sarah McMahon of Rutgers University’s Center on Violence Against Women and Children. The advocates detailed how weakening this important federal guideline would make women less safe on U.S. college campuses, lead to greater victimization of sex assault victims and less accountability for their perpetrators.

Sen. Menendez cosponsored the 1993 Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) when he was serving in the House of Representatives and has consistently supported reauthorization and funding for VAWA programs, which has been credited for a 63% drop in sexual assault since the law was passed. He also cosponsored the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act (Campus SaVE Act) that was passed as part of the last VAWA five-year reauthorization in 2013 and addressed the problem of sexual violence on college campuses by requiring colleges and universities to clearly outline their policies regarding sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking.

Sen. Menendez is an original cosponsor of the Fair Housing for Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Survivors Act that would prohibit housing discrimination against survivors of domestic violence or sexual assault. In the last Congress, he was also an original cosponsor of the International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA), cosponsored the Campus Accountability and Safety Act that increased oversight and protection against sexual assaults on college and university campuses, and cosponsored the Pet and Women Safety Act of 2015 that protected the pets of victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and dating violence.

Additionally, the senator has supported robust federal funding for the Victims of Crimes Act (VOCA) Assistance Programs, the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA), the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program and the Department of Justice Campus Grant Program.

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