| For over a half-century, girls, women, LGBTQ youth, students of color, and students with disabilities have won significant battles in the fight for full recognition of our civil rights, including the right to get an education free of discrimination and harassment.
But now the Trump administration is working to reverse decades of progress through wide-ranging attacks on laws that protect students’ civil rights. From appointing extreme and unqualified Cabinet officials like Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to proposing deep budget cuts that will hamstring crucial civil rights agencies, they are working overtime to undermine the ideal of “freedom and justice for all.” Their latest target? Rules that require schools to provide equal educational opportunities to all students. But we can stop them, if we act right now.
Civil rights laws protect students from discrimination on the basis of sex (Title IX); race, color and national origin (Title VI); and disability (Americans with Disabilities Act, Rehabilitation Act, and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act). They are critical to ensuring that all students have the right to learn. That’s why the Department of Education has longstanding rules and regulations that require educators to do right by students and explain what schools must do to follow these laws. For example, these regulations and guidance documents provide schools with commonsense guidelines for addressing harassment based on race and offering accommodations for students who have disabilities, are pregnant or parenting, are learning English, and who have survived sexual assault. And the Department of Education is supposed to hold schools who fail to follow these laws accountable. But instead, under the guise of “eliminating burdensome regulations,” the Trump administration is attacking these rules. They’re ignoring the benefits of eradicating sexism, racism, ableism, and other forms of bigotry from our schools, colleges, and universities. And they’re ignoring the fact that these laws and regulations were created to give all students — no matter their background or circumstances — a fair shot at learning and thriving. We can’t let them get away with it. The more of us who submit comments explaining why we believe these regulations must stay, the harder it will be to change them. Thanks in advance for defending students’ civil rights by sending a comment today. Sincerely, We the Resistance is our fight to protect our rights and freedoms and to defend the most vulnerable among us through powerful collective action. Every conversation you have with a loved one about the issues important to you, every call you make to Congress, every rally you attend is a part of that resistance. Join us — sign on to the We The Resistance manifesto. |
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