The Civil Rights Lawsuit Against Betsy DeVos’s High School Alma Mater: What It Means For Every Student

by Esther Warkov, Executive Director, SSAIS

There are phone calls a parent never wants to get. We received one such call, informing us that our daughter had been raped on a school field trip. Living through the nightmare of the rape and its aftermath was devastating, but equally traumatic was the fallout we experienced when the school failed to uphold our daughter’s civil rights under Title IX.  Like countless families, we became victims of “institutional betrayal,” as I describe in Why We Need Title IX to Let Her Learn: A Parent’s Perspective. Little did we know our experience would later provide an opportunity to educate the US Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, about the violation of Title IX in her own alma mater, Holland Christian School, and to explain why this lawsuit is so important for all students.

As secondary victims of our daughter’s assault, we parents have come full circle: we are empowered advocates, educating families about their rights under Title IX, the civil rights law we knew little about when we needed it the most. Our understanding of Title IX now likely exceeds that of US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. It’s both ironic and telling that parents who were once victims are obliged to call out Betsy DeVos’s alma mater for violating Title IX.  Although we deplore the weak level of Title IX enforcement in both public and private schools, we take satisfaction in the opportunity to use this case as a “teachable moment.”

Today, we announce the lawsuit against Holland Christian School and explain what this means for millions of public and private school students. Learn why in short video The Civil Rights Lawsuit Against Betsy DeVos’s High School Alma Mater. Read the video transcript here.