Please read the attached message from AFT President, Randi Weingarten, and sign the petition so as to help enact change on this important issue.
One in five young women will be sexually assaulted while in college. I too was sexually assaulted. Like millions of others, I never reported it-in large part because our culture tells victims that we are to blame.
Over recent years, I've watched in awe as courageous young people have begun to change our culture by telling their stories and demanding that we take sexual assault seriously.
And while I have no interest in reliving my own experience, I was afraid that the curtain of silence would once again be drawn after
Rolling Stone retracted its story about sexual assault at the University of Virginia. Already many young women-and young men-feel too afraid to share their truth.
That curtain of silence is why I stepped forward today.
The fight to end campus assault will take time, but there are practical solutions we can implement now. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) has introduced a bill that will help ensure that schools take meaningful steps to prevent assault and support victims.
The fight to end campus sexual assault will take many partners-students, administrators, faculty, staff, unions, advocacy groups, law enforcement and our elected officials.
Sen. Gillibrand's bill provides a framework for real change. It requires schools to enact commonsense policies, like confidential advisers for victims, minimum training standards for campus personnel, increased transparency, consistent policies and a clear process for working with law enforcement when an assault occurs.
This issue is personal for me, and for many of our members. I represent hundreds of thousands of workers at colleges and universities who can and who want to help effect change on campus.
Together, we can do something. And we are. At the State University of New York, for instance, our members championed a "Bill of Rights" for victims that was released earlier this month. At Michigan State University, graduate students and adjuncts are standing side by side with students to push back against bad ideas from the administration. In ways big and small, our members are taking up this fight.
We'll keep doing our part, and we need Congress to do its part, too. Sign the petition today and ask Congress to act.
In unity,
Randi Weingarten
AFT President
P.S. You can read my full story here.