Tiffany Reese

It's about the parents who receive the call that they often feared and the systems that responded with bureaucracy instead of care.

It's also about the power of speaking up and the courage it takes to do so when the cost is high.

But before we begin this season, it's important to understand the law that sits at the center of so many of these stories, Title IX.

Title IX was passed in 1972 as part of the Education Amendments.

The law states, quote,

End quote.

It's only 37 words long, but those words were meant to guarantee that every student in the United States could access their education without discrimination based on sex.

Most people know Title IX because of sports, and while expanding athletic opportunities for women and girls was a major milestone, Title IX's protections reach far beyond athletics.

Over time, through guidance of the Department of Education and decades of advocacy from survivors, Title IX became the primary federal law requiring schools and programs that receive federal funding to address sexual harassment, sexual assault, intimate partner violence, stalking, and other forms of sex-based harm.

The idea is simple.

If a student experiences discrimination, sexual violence, or sexual harassment, and it affects their education, the school or federally funded program has a legal obligation to respond promptly, effectively, and in a way that ensures that everyone has equal access to educational opportunities.

But as many survivors know, the reality is often far more complicated.

It's been nearly 50 years since the passage of Title IX, the landmark civil rights law prohibiting sex-based discrimination at federally funded schools, including in athletic programs.

But violations still exist.

Schools often provide better opportunities and benefits for boys.

Devastatingly, sexual violence on college campuses is not rare.

According to Rain, female college students between the ages of 18 and 24 are three times more likely to experience sexual violence than women in general.

Rain also indicates that male students between the ages of 18 and 24 are, quote, 78% more likely than non-students of the same age to be a victim of rape or sexual assault, end quote.

Meanwhile, national research shows that about one in five undergraduate women will experience sexual assault during their college years and that, quote, college women in their first year have reportedly been at the highest risk for sexual assault compared to other college women after their first year, end quote.

That's why the first months of a student's freshman year of college is often referred to as the red zone.