As the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights investigates UNC’s handling of sexual assault, it should continue its history of working with schools to fix problems and improve policy rather than simply issuing a punishment that would hurt the University.
While it is within the office’s power to decrease federal funding to certain universities, this isn’t the way to solve problems with sexual assault policy.
A cut or complete withdrawal of funds would punish UNC without solving anything.
Moreover, federal funding cuts could hurt those who had little to do with forming or implementing the sexual assault policy. Cutting financial aid or housing funding doesn’t seem to solve a thing.
Punishments as the default course of action encourage universities to rush to comply with laws simply to avoid losing funding, rather than getting to the root of the issues.
When complaints are filed and universities are found to violate laws, working to solve the problem rather than immediately issuing punishments is vital.
In the past the office has worked with university officials to precisely identify and resolve problems with how Title IX violations are handled.
Taking this route with UNC will ensure that the problems with the current policy are thoroughly resolved to prevent future injustice and violence.
