Thank you to our signers and promoters!
We are almost to 50 signatures and with you support we will meet and exceed this benchmark over the next several days and weeks.
We at NDAFreeCampus know that NDAs mask themselves in secrecy, by design. People don't necessarily know about NDAs...because they are secret. So building awareness is part of our mission.
I'm linking to a USA Today article from 2022, and a letter that civil rights leaders sent to the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights following up on the investigation that led to the USA Today article. These are not the only misuses of NDAs, unfortunately, but they are startling when you consider the impacts to students, laws intended to protect survivors, and the integrity of the stories that let us as a culture grapple with difficult issues.
From USA Today: "Schools are bullying students who report sexual assault into waiving certain rights before they can proceed with internal misconduct hearings."
The investigation that led to the discovery of this "coercive, unconscionable, and retaliatory" practice by colleges and universities prompted this letter to the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights signed by dozens of civil rights organizations.
"The agreements — conditioning access to a school’s grievance process on silence and a forfeiture of other rights or due process — are coercive, unconscionable, and retaliatory. They violate federal law and policy aimed at protecting students, many of whom are minors. Schools engaged in this practice are creating unsafe educational environments which disproportionately impact women, girls, and students in the LGBTQI+ community. Although establishing some degree of confidentiality for sensitive and private information disclosed in the campus grievance process is appropriate, this can be achieved in far better ways than requiring unconditional assent to such agreements. The coerced agreements not only violate Title IX, but also the Clery Act by creating improper barriers to the parties’ full and equitable participation in the grievance process."
Thank you for giving volume to our voice.