The federal civil lawsuit against the management of sexual assault cases of the University of Tennessee has been put to a close. Silencing the complaint is the million dollar settlement that the university and complainants have arrived with.
ESPN reports that six women complainants first took to legal authorities on February 9, alleging the University of Tennessee, in relation to sexual assault cases involving athletes, violated Title IX regulations. On mid-February, the lawsuit was revised and added two more cases of women who also claim to be sexual assault victims.
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 rules that sex-related educational programs and activities provided by state-funded institutions should be conducted without any form of discrimination. The obligation is passed to many sectors including athletics.
According to the complaint as reported by ESPN, the Tennessee university's policies foster an environment that allows sexual assault cases to happen more easily. Moreover, the institution's response to the cases was unreasonable in a way that the women victims were harassed further and that the sexual assailants, in this case, male athletes, were favored.
Most of the athletes being charged with sexual assault were given the time to transfer to a school or trials were delayed that allowed them to still play with their teams even if they haven't been proven not guilty of the sexual assault claim. Also, most of them pressured the victims not to push through with filing their cases to legal authorities.
The trial of the complaint was already scheduled for May 2018 but was cancelled when the university and complainants have agreed to a settlement amounting to $2.48 million. The University of Tennessee does not admit guilt or negligence of handling these sensitive cases but the women decided to agree with the financial settlement because they recognize the changes the university has done in response to sexual assault cases (via ESPN).
As per NPR, there is a recent surge of awareness and action towards campus rape reports. Just a few days ago President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden announced their hate against colleges who are negligent of sexual assault cases by not accommodating any invitation to visit said schools.
Do you think that the eight women who alleged the University of Tennessee of mishandling sexual assault cases got the justice they were fighting for? Sound off your thoughts in the Comments section below and follow Parent Herald for more news and updates.
