Annie E. Clark | |
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Born | Annie Elizabeth Clark July 15, 1989 |
Education | B.A., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
Annie Elizabeth Clark (born July 15, 1989) is a women's rights and civil rights activist in the United States. She was one of the lead complainants of the 2013 Title IX and Clery Act charges lodged against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, claiming that the institution violated the law by the way they handled sexual assault complaints. [1] [2] Clark and Andrea Pino, then a fellow UNC student and also a victim of sexual assault, launched a nationwide campaign to use Title IX complaints to force U.S. universities to address sexual assault and related problems more aggressively. [3] [4] Clark is co-founder with Pino of End Rape on Campus, an advocacy group for victims of campus sexual assault. [5]
Clark was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. She is the granddaughter of former congressman, Charles Orville Whitley, and attended Jesse O. Sanderson High School. She attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, completing a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science. During college at UNC-Chapel Hill, Clark was inducted into Pi Sigma Alpha, the Order of the Golden Fleece Honorary Society, and the Order of the Grail-Valkyries for her service and student leadership. She was also inducted into Phi Beta Kappa for her academic work. In 2011, she presented her paper, "Interpersonal Violence Policy and Prevention in US Higher Education," at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. [6]
Clark's activism stems in part from a personal experience during her freshman year at UNC. [2] According to Clark, when she sought support for the incident, a UNC school staff member "advised her that rape was like a football game, and that the next day was like being a Monday-morning quarterback where you look back and think, What would I have done differently?" as if the student were at fault. [7] [8] [9] In response to the lack of support, and related to learning of other students who had suffered sexual assault, Clark began research into abuse at other campuses. She eventually explored filing a challenge to the university under Title IX, a 1972 Civil Rights Act amendment that grants certain rights of opportunity to those pursuing higher education. [2]
Together with Andrea Pino, a fellow student at UNC who said she had also suffered assault, Clark began work on an OCR complaint under Title IX against UNC's administration. [10] [11] In January 2013, after interviewing "hundreds of victims," Clark and Pino, in conjunction with other UNC students and alumni and one former administrator, filed a 34-page complaint against the university with the US Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights. [12] By March 2013, DOEd accepted the complaint and launched an investigation into how the university handled sexual assault cases. [13]
After the UNC case made national headlines, Clark voiced hope that the complaints filed would help bring "other stories of assault and cover-up into the light," so that change could occur nationwide. [2] [14] Clark and Pino were sought out by survivors from across the country and gave them emotional support; in addition, they aided them in filing similar Title IX complaints at their own schools. The two women helped form a network of students and staff at higher education institutions across the country who united around this issue. [15] [16] At a May 2013 press conference announcing filings by students at Occidental College, Dartmouth College, Swarthmore College, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Southern California, Clark issued a statement that victims of sexual violence had "reached a critical mass where we can no longer be ignored." [17] [18] By 2015, some 169 colleges/universities were under investigation by DOEd under Title IX and related to their treatment of sexual assault cases. [19]
In 2013, Clark and Pino co-founded 'End Rape on Campus' (EROC), a group working to end sexual violence on campuses around the country. [22] EROC helps people who have been sexually assaulted with direct resources, pro bono therapists and attorneys, and it provides assistance with filing complaints. [23]
Title IX is a landmark federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receives funding from the federal government. This is Public Law No. 92‑318, 86 Stat. 235, codified at 20 U.S.C. §§ 1681–1688.
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is a sub-agency of the U.S. Department of Education that is primarily focused on enforcing civil rights laws prohibiting schools from engaging in discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, or membership in patriotic youth organizations.
The anti-rape movement is a sociopolitical movement which is part of the movement seeking to combat violence against and the abuse of women.
Susan Herbst is an American political scientist and academic administrator who served as the 15th president of the University of Connecticut. She was named president on December 20, 2010, and took office on June 1, 2011. She succeeded Michael J. Hogan and was the first woman to be selected as the University of Connecticut's president since the school's founding in 1881. In August of 2019, Herbst was succeeded by Thomas C. Katsouleas.
Campus sexual assault is the sexual assault, including rape, of a student while attending an institution of higher learning, such as a college or university. The victims of such assaults are more likely to be female, but any gender can be victimized. Estimates of sexual assault, which vary based on definitions and methodology, generally find that somewhere between 19–27% of college women and 6–8% of college men are sexually assaulted during their time in college.
Andrea Lynn Pino (born February 15, 1992) is an American women's rights and civil rights activist, author, and a public scholar on issues of global gender based violence, media framing of violence, gender and sexuality, and narratives of survivorhood. She is the queer daughter of Cuban refugees and has stated that she is a survivor of sexual assault.
Angie Epifano, a former student at Amherst College, gained widespread media attention and millions of page views after she wrote an essay on her personal experience of sexual assault that was published in the Amherst student newspaper, The Amherst Student. After the publication of her essay, Amherst College began investigating its sexual assault procedures, and women from other college campuses in the United States came forward to file federal complaints under Title IX and to form groups to reduce sexual assault on college campuses.
The Campus Accountability and Safety Act (CASA) was a bill introduced in the 114th United States Congress with the goal of reducing sexual violence on college and university campuses. First introduced in 2014, a revised bill was introduced in February 2015 by Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri with nine bi-partisan cosponsors. 43 cosponsors eventually signed on. The bill died in committee at the end of the session without reaching a floor vote in either house.
In April 2013, Occidental College was one of the first in a series of US higher education institutions to be accused of failing to take campus sex crimes seriously by improperly reporting and adjudicating sexual assaults and covering up rapes. Occidental students and faculty filed two federal complaints against the College, alleging violations of Title IX of the US Education Amendments of 1972 and the Clery Act.
Mattress Performance (Carry That Weight) (2014–2015) was a work of endurance/performance art which Emma Sulkowicz conducted as a senior thesis during the final year of a visual arts degree at Columbia University in New York City.
The Hunting Ground is a 2015 American documentary film about the incidence of sexual assault on college campuses in the United States and the reported failure of college administrations to deal with it adequately. Written and directed by Kirby Dick and produced by Amy Ziering, it premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. The film was released on February 27, 2015, an edited version aired on CNN on November 22, 2015, and was released on DVD the week of December 1, 2015. It was released on Netflix in March 2016. Lady Gaga recorded an original song, "Til It Happens to You," for the film, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
Know Your IX is an American political advocacy group founded in 2013. It aims to inform students of their right to an education free from gender-based violence under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits sex discrimination in institutions receiving federal government funding. The organization also seeks to influence legislation and policy to improve federal enforcement of Title IX and treatment of student victims.
Families Advocating for Campus Equality (FACE) is an American advocacy group whose stated goal is to ensure fairness and due process for all parties involved in allegations of sexual misconduct on college and university campuses. FACE was started by Sherry Warner Seefeld and two other mothers who say their sons were falsely accused of sexual misconduct on their college campuses.
In April 2013, Emma Sulkowicz, an American fourth-year visual arts major at Columbia University in New York City, filed a complaint with Columbia University requesting expulsion of fellow fourth-year student and German national, Paul Nungesser, alleging he had raped Sulkowicz in her dorm room on August 27, 2012. Nungesser was found not responsible by a university inquiry.
The Baylor University sexual assault scandal was the result of numerous allegations of and convictions for sexual and non-sexual assaults committed by Baylor University students, mostly players on the Baylor Bears football team. During a period from about 2012 to 2016, school officials suppressed reports of rapes and sexual misconduct. In 2016, Baylor's football team came under fire when it was revealed university officials had failed to take action regarding the alleged rapes and assaults. The scandal led to the ousting of head football coach Art Briles, the demotion and eventual resignation of Baylor president Ken Starr, the resignation of athletic director Ian McCaw, and the firing of two others connected with the football program. It also led to the resignation of Baylor's Title IX Coordinator, Patty Crawford. A plaintiff's attorney, Jim Dunnam, accused Baylor of implementing a ″concerted strategy to get the public to believe this is entirely and only a football-related problem."
After a sexual assault or rape, victims are often subjected to scrutiny and, in some cases, mistreatment. Victims undergo medical examinations and are interviewed by police. If there is a criminal trial, victims suffer a loss of privacy, and their credibility may be challenged. Victims may also become the target of slut-shaming, abuse, social stigmatization, sexual slurs and cyberbullying. These factors, contributing to a rape culture, are among some of the reasons that may contribute up to 80% of all rapes going unreported in the U.S, according to a 2016 study done by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Candice Erin Jackson is an American lawyer and former government official from California. She served in the Trump administration as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Strategic Operations and Outreach in the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the U.S. Department of Education, and the Office's Acting Assistant Secretary from April 2017 to July 2018. From July 2018 to January 2021, she served as the Deputy General Counsel of the Department of Education.
Stop Sexual Assault in Schools is a United States non-profit organization that advocates for K–12 students’ right to an education free from sexual harassment and sexual assault. Sexual assault and severe or pervasive sexual harassment are types of sex discrimination prohibited under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, a civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in any education program that receives federal funding. SSAIS accomplishes its mission by creating and distributing free education programs, filing pro bono civil rights complaints with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), collaborating with national gender equity organizations, supporting legislative and legal initiatives, working with communities and families to bring schools into Title IX compliance, and educating the media about how sexual harassment and sexual violence in K–12 schools can violate students’ rights.
Sofie Karasek is an American advocate for women's rights and the fight against sexual assault. In 2013, she helped launch a national movement to hold universities accountable for sweeping sexual harm under the rug under Title IX, and was a key driver behind California's "Yes Means Yes" law. She co-founded the advocacy organization called End Rape on Campus (EROC) in 2013.
Wendy Murphy is a lawyer specializing in child abuse and interpersonal violence.