**Fact Sheet**

### **Rescinded: This document has been formally rescinded by the Department and remains available on the web for historical purposes only.**

**Dear Colleague Letter: Sexual Violence****Background, Summary, and Fast Facts****April 4, 2011**

PDF (121K)

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**Sexual Violence Statistics and Effects**
      - Acts of sexual violence are vastly under-reported.  1      Yet, data show that our nation’s young students suffer from acts of sexual    violence early and the likelihood that they will be assaulted by the time    they graduate is significant.  For example: 
      Recent data shows nearly 4,000 reported incidents of sexual battery and      over 800 reported rapes and attempted rapes occurring 
in our nation’s      public high schools.
2
 Indeed,      by the time girls graduate from high school, more than one in ten will      have been physically forced to have sexual intercourse in or out of school.
3
When young women get to 
college
, nearly 20% of them will be      victims of attempted or actual sexual assault, as will about 6% of undergraduate      men.
4

      - Victims of sexual assault are more likely to suffer academically and from    depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, to abuse alcohol and drugs, and    to contemplate suicide.  5

**Why is ED Issuing the Dear Colleague letter (DCL)?**

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (“Title IX”), 20 U.S.C. Sec.  1681, *et seq.*, prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any  federally funded education program or activity.  ED is issuing the DCL to explain that the requirements of Title IX cover sexual violence and to remind schools6 of  their responsibilities to take immediate and effective steps to respond to  sexual violence in accordance with the requirements of Title IX.  In the context  of the letter, sexual violence means physical sexual acts perpetrated against  a person’s will or where a person is incapable of giving consent.  A number  of acts fall into the category of sexual violence, including rape, sexual assault,  sexual battery, and sexual coercion.

**What does the DCL do?**

      - Provides guidance on the unique concerns that arise in sexual violence    cases, such as the role of criminal investigations and a school’s independent    responsibility to investigate and address sexual violence.
      - Provides guidance and examples about key Title IX requirements and how    they relate to sexual violence, such as the requirements to publish a policy    against sex discrimination, designate a Title IX coordinator, and adopt and    publish grievance procedures. 
      - Discusses proactive efforts schools can take to prevent sexual violence.
      - Discusses the interplay between Title IX, FERPA, and the Clery Act  7  as    it relates to a complainant’s right to know the outcome of his or her complaint,    including relevant sanctions facing the perpetrator.  
      - Provides examples of remedies and enforcement strategies that schools and    the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) may use to respond to sexual violence.

**What are a school’s obligations under Title IX regarding sexual  violence?**

      - Once a school knows or reasonably should know of possible sexual violence,    it must take immediate and appropriate action to investigate or otherwise    determine what occurred.  
      - If sexual violence has occurred, a school must take prompt and effective    steps to end the sexual violence, prevent its recurrence, and address its    effects, whether or not the sexual violence is the subject of a criminal    investigation.  
      - A school must take steps to protect the complainant as necessary, including    interim steps taken prior to the final outcome of the investigation.
      - A school must provide a grievance procedure for students to file complaints    of sex discrimination, including complaints of sexual violence.  These procedures    must include an equal opportunity for both parties to present witnesses and    other evidence and the same appeal rights. 
      - A school’s grievance procedures must use the preponderance of the evidence    standard to resolve complaints of sex discrimination. 
      - A school must notify both parties of the outcome of the complaint.  

**How can I get help from OCR?**

OCR offers technical assistance to help schools achieve voluntary compliance  with the civil rights laws it enforces and works with schools to develop approaches  to preventing and addressing discrimination.  A school should contact the OCR  enforcement office serving its jurisdiction for technical assistance.  For  contact information, please visit ED’s website at http://wdcrobcolp01.ed.gov/CFAPPS/OCR/contactus.cfm. 

A complaint of discrimination can be filed by anyone who believes that a school  that receives Federal financial assistance has discriminated against someone  on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age.  The  person or organization filing the complaint need not be a victim of the alleged  discrimination, but may complain on behalf of another person or group.  For  information on how to file a complaint with OCR, visit http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/  ocr/complaintintro.html or contact OCR’s Customer Service Team at 1-800-421-3481.

1For example, see	HEATHER M. KARJANE, ET AL., SEXUAL ASSAULT ON CAMPUS: What Colleges And Universities	Are Doing About IT 3 (Nat’l. Institute of Justice, Dec. 2005).  2 SIMONE ROBERS, ET AL., INDICATORS OF SCHOOL CRIME AND SAFETY 104 (U.S. Dep’t of Education & U.S.	Dep’t of Justice, Nov. 2010), *available at*http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2011/2011002.pdf.3 EATON, D. K., KANN, L., KINCHEN, S., SHANKLIN, S., ROSS, J., HAWKINS, J., ET AL., YOUTH RISK BEHAVIOR SURVEILLANCE-UNITED STATES 2009, *Morbidity and Mortality Weekly	Report*.4 CHRISTOPHER P. KREBS ET AL., THE CAMPUS SEXUAL ASSAULT STUDY FINAL REPORT xiii, 5-5 (Nat’l. Criminal Justice Reference Service, Oct. 2007), available at http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/221153.pdf.5 For example,  see WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, WORLD REPORT ON VIOLENCE AND HEALTH 162-164  (Etienne G. Krug, et al. eds., 2002), *available at*http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2002/9241545615_eng.pdf;  CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL, UNDERSTANDING SEXUAL VIOLENCE: FACT SHEET 1 (2011), *available    at*http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/SV_factsheet_2011-a.pdf.6 “Schools” includes  all recipients of federal funding and includes school districts, colleges,  and universities.7 The Family Educational  Rights and Privacy Act is at 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1232g, and the Jeanne Clery Disclosure  of Campus Security and Campus Crime Statistics Act is at 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1092(f).

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