Get to Know “Know Your IX”

After months of discussion of sexual assault in higher education and after the Department of Education has begun investigating several schools for how they handle sexual assault, a group of student activists and assault survivors have launched a “Know Your IX” campaign. It’s designed to help students learn their rights under Title IX and other gender equality laws, according to the group’s website, which went live on Tuesday:

Know Your IX is a campaign that aims to educate all college students in the U.S. about their rights under Title IX. Armed with information, sexual violence survivors will be able to advocate for themselves during their schools’ grievance proceedings and, if Title IX guarantees are not respected, file a complaint against their colleges with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.

The website primarily focuses on helping students effectively combat sexual assault on college campuses and has five main sections: how to report assault and harassment, how to use legal and activist strategies to change colleges, how to help survivors, how to spread information about the campaign and advice for survivors and advocates. The website says,

Based on our own experiences we know that students’ knowledge of their rights to educations free from violence is an essential tool for ensuring justice both for individuals and on a systemic level. Survivor-activists who “know their IX” can advocate for themselves when reporting violence, demand that their schools live up to their legal responsibilities, and push for campus-wide change if students’ rights are not respected.

The advice section of the website covers everything from how to find a lawyer to dealing with retaliation from a school to basic self-care tips. “Know Your IX” is simple to navigate, and the language used is clear. As a caveat, though, the leaders of “Know Your IX” remind readers that that

We are not lawyers …We cannot provide legal advice, and urge you to consult with an actual, real, trained lawyer before taking action.

While they can’t provide legal counsel, “Know Your IX” can provide almost everything else that a survivor or activist needs to know.

Official “Know Your IX” picture taken from Twitter.

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