When Trump nominated Betsy DeVos to lead the Department of Education, anti-rape advocates worried about the damage she might do. The Obama administration had pushed universities to better address sexual assault on their campuses, prescribing stricter guidelines for adjudicating accusations and publishing lists of schools under investigation. DeVos refused to say whether or not shed uphold that guidance, but the prospects looked grim. She and her family foundation had both donated money to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, an advocacy group working to undo the progress Obamas Department of Education had made on campus sexual assault.
To help her decide, DeVos is meeting with several organizations that do work on this issue. Victims rights organizations, including Know Your IX and the National Womens Law Center, are on the list. So are a few mens rights groups that see campus rape as a faux crisis manufactured to demonize and damage men and boys. Politico reported last week that the Department of Education has contacted Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE), Families Advocating for Campus Equality (FACE), and the National Coalition for Men to set up meetings about the campus sexual assault guidance, which all three organizations oppose.
The National Coalition for Men, as its name implies, is one of the largest, longest-running, and shameless mens rights organizations out there. It is founded on the belief that domestic violence and sexual assault are widely overreported (in other words, that women regularly invent incidents of these crimes) and that some of the blame often lies with the female victim. President Harry Crouch calls this alleged conspiracy of women, the media, and law enforcement the mens violence industry. The organization has a history of harassing and intimidating alleged sexual-assault survivors, ThinkProgress points out: Chapters have published photos, names, and biographical details of women who have accused menfalsely, the National Coalition for Men insistsof rape. Its members routinely bring lawsuits against women-only networking groups and social events, crying discrimination.
Crouch has argued that women are too rarely held responsible for domestic violence they instigate. Im not saying hes a good guy, Crouch said in 2014 of football player Ray Rice, who knocked out his then-girlfriend in an elevator. But if she hadnt aggravated him, she wouldnt have been hit. They would say thats blaming the victim. But I dont buy it. He also claimed that if a little person without a penis instigates, she will never be accountable for her actions and wondered why the NFL cant have a week, or just one day, where they celebrate men? as when the league wears pink jerseys for breast cancer awareness.
