NOCTILUCA October 2017

OPINIONS Appleton, Wisconsin October 2017 Volume XXIII

Issue I Page 4

Another step back for gender equality in Trumpmerica I t was hardly perfect. But it was a step forward. By Olivia Molter

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those attacks will be reported, a safe environment for victims to come forward is a necessity. It’s a school’s responsibility to make sure no student is forced to suffer in silence. As mentioned previously, the 2011 guidelines are not without their faults. If a student accused is innocent, they have very little opportunity to prove the allega- tion false. Unfortunately, this does happen and supporters of DeVos’s plan are quick to point out that the few students who are expelled for false sexual abuse allegations are the victims that the guidelines don’t protect. And, in a way, they are right. No one deserves to be punished for a crime they didn’t commit. I can agree with them there. The real problem with De-

The 2011 “Dear Colleague” letter out- lined new standards for how colleges were to handle sexual assault cases on their cam- puses. At the time, it seemed ideal. Some- one was finally taking action to end the epi- demic of sexual assaults that have become increasingly prevalent on college campus- es. Of course, the guidelines had their flaws (and I’ll touch on those later), but it was a start, a step in the right direction. However, Betsy DeVos’s recent decision to rescind the guidelines once again puts survivors of sexual assault on campuses at a major dis- advantage when it comes to getting justice. Before I get into the How and Why this causes a major issue on campuses today, I’ll give a brief rundown on the set of guidelines and laws I’m referring to. Title IX was a law that was put in place in the 70s, and it reads as follows: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from partici- pation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any edu- cation program or activity receiving Fed- eral financial assistance.” Seems pretty straightforward, right? Well that law has been continuously built upon in the past few decades with new legislation and regulations. In 2011, it was built upon yet again. The “Dear Colleague” letter was one that was sent to colleges across the country. It detailed new guide- lines regarding how colleges should handle sexual assault cases on their campuses. It stated that if colleges refused to see and handle sexual assault accusations on their campus, federal funding could be withheld from them. It also required colleges to use the lowest standard of proof in sexual as- sault cases (meaning less evidence would be necessary to find someone guilty) and didn’t allow for the cross-examination of

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Mr. Ramponi, staff advisor, at: ramponiaaron@aasd.k12.wi.us.

Editorial Staff Senior Editor-In-Chief Jake Zajkowski Junior Editor-In-Chief Salma Abdel-Azim News Editor Maddie Clark Opinions Editor Carl Zuleger Features Editor Henry Ptacek Center Spread Editor Ahmad Abdel-Azim Culture Editor Lila Metko Sports Editor Kyle Hoffenbecker Photography Editor Olivia Molter Copy Editor Silvia Knighten Adithi Reddy Social Media Editor Amara Neitzke Graphics Editor Sonia Tallroth Online Editor Sarah Fleming Advisor Mr. Ramponi Contributors

College-aged women on campus are three times more likely to be sexually assaulted, as compared to all women. Information from the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

victims. Among undergraduate students, around 1 in 5 females and 1 in 20 males will expe- rience sexual assault (Jennifer L. Truman, Ph.D., Lynn Langton, Ph.D., Bureau of Justice Statistics). I know, these are statis- tics that most of us have heard time after time, and it’s easy to remove yourself from it. But we have to realize that these victims are someone’s friend, someone’s neighbor. They’re someone’s brothers and sisters. They could be yours. They could be you. What the 2011 guidelines did was create a safer environment for these victims to come forward. They could come forward without the fear of having to face their at- tacker, without worrying about not having sufficient evidence (as most rape and sexu- al assault cases leave very little evidence), and with the confidence that school au- thorities will do what it takes to help them. When we live in a society where 1 in 5 will be sexually assaulted but only 20% of

Vos’s plan is that it chooses to focus on the few who are falsely accused instead of on the staggering number of victims. While we took two steps forward in 2011, we take one step back today. I’m not say- ing that the guidelines should stay as is, or that we shouldn’t somehow protect those who are falsely accused, I’m saying the guidelines were a start. They were a base for government to build upon. It opened up the conversation and shined light on the unignorable number of sexual assaults on college campuses. Rescinding these guide- lines show a scary favor for the perpetrator and an equally alarming disregard for the victim. Although the “Dear Colleague” letter guidelines were far from perfect, it was a much needed start. Taking that effort away instead of revising it was a mistake, but not one that can’t be fixed. I just hope they do it right.

Ahmad Abdel-Azim Salma Abdel-Azim Maddie Clark Sarah Fleming Logan Gaertner Mickayla George Kyle Hoffenbecker Lila Metko Olivia Molter Amara Neitzke

Depolarizing conversations: It starts with us By Carl Zuleger

sides than those that are making themselves known. There is a tendency to believe that you can only be for or against, friend or foe, when in actuality, real life is far more complicated and nu- anced for that to be practical. It is natural to immediately view things from your own perspec- tive, but it is human to do your best to view things from the per- spectives of others. This isn’t something that will be easy; not every day will you be able to actively listen, nor will you be able to always hear someone out without instantly formulating your own opinion. However, if we journey toward perfection, it is on that journey where progress is made and re- sults are achieved.

standard that society is being held to? We don’t. We change the standard, because we are a society, and as mentioned ear- lier, it starts with us. The plan, then, consists of two simple parts: 1. Listen to others. This can be difficult, for numerous reasons, but it can be even more reward- ing. When someone is speaking, or writing, keep an open mind and really consider what they have to say. Give them a chance to express their ideas without interrupting or trying to counter them. 2. Be kind and accept diver- sity. The biggest goal here is to recognize that there are two sides to every coin, and a lot of times, there are even more

ability for what is said through social media outlets, a polarized culture of toxicity has thrived, and will continue to do so unless something changes. And that change has to start here. Within you, within me, within we. Now, I am not suggesting that we strive for unity--in fact, I think striving for unity has been part of the problem. So often, we expect people to share their opinion, and if they don’t, oh, if they don’t, then they must be terrible, awful, no good human beings. In the back of our brains, we might know that such a sen- timent isn’t actually true, but it becomes very easy to ignore the little voice pointing it out. So how do we achieve any sort of peace with the current

Listen to others; hear what they have to say. How often have you found yourself only half-listening to what someone has to say? Or even worse, not listening at all and simply doing enough uh-huhs and mm-hmms to get you through the conver- sation? How many times have you instantly checked out when someone says something you disagree with? Too often we go through life without actually en- gaging with the people around us, and it’s impacting our soci- ety in a BIG way. Examples of people not lis- tening to one another occur far too frequently in today’s society. Between the current political climate and the lack of account-

Henry Ptacek Adithi Reddy

Sophie Sullivan Madeline Waters Carl Zuleger