LEGAL HELP FOR STUDENTS
Support for Student Survivors of Sexual Assault or Harassment
After experiencing sexual harassment or assault, student survivors often face challenges in academic and campus life. They may need support in order to feel safe and continue their education. If you are a student survivor, our attorneys who specialize in education matters can assist you with free legal information, support, and representation. We can help you understand your options and what those choices might entail. We can also help you:
- Request extensions of deadlines, opportunities to make up schoolwork, and/or a switch in classes
- Move to new housing and/or change work schedules
- Report the incident to your school and/or participate in the school disciplinary process
- Access mental health services
- Request a no-contact directive or safety plan from the school
- Appeal a school disciplinary decision
- File a complaint against the school if your case was mishandled
- Pursue a protective order in civil court
- Get other accommodations and remedies
- Make a police report and navigate the criminal justice system
CAASE cannot accept cases involving criminal defense, divorce, custody, property in common, or other family court issues, immigration, or cases that involve survivors who do not want to participate in a legal process, even if they are minors. If CAASE can’t assist you, we will try to connect you to another attorney and support resources.
What Laws Protect Student Survivors?
There are multiple state and federal laws that are intended to protect students from gender discrimination—including gender-based violence like sexual harassment and sexual assault. Some of these laws are also intended to prevent sexual harm and support student survivors when it occurs.
Current federal and state laws that apply in Illinois are listed below. Click the plus next to the law to learn more about it.
- A federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in educational institutions that receive federal funding (nearly all schools). This includes gender-based violence like sexual harassment and sexual assault. The law requires schools to respond and fix hostile educational environments. Not doing so is a violation and the school can be at risk of losing federal funding.
- Title IX regulations changed in 2020 and are likely to change again in the near future. If you believe your school has not complied with Title IX, contact CAASE so we can help you understand your rights.
- A federal law requiring colleges and universities to disclose information about crime on and around their campuses. Crimes, including sexual assault, are to be included in a published Annual Security Report (ASR) and should be available on your school’s website. Schools must also document crime statistics for incidents that occur on campus and at certain non-campus areas and facilities, issue timely warnings of known risks to public safety on campus, and create an emergency response, notification, and testing policy.
- The Campus Sexual Assault Victim’s Bill of Rights is also part of the Clery Act. It requires colleges to grant and disclose certain basic rights to sexual assault victims and that they notify victims of their option to report their assault to law enforcement.
- This Illinois law requires higher education institutions in the state to develop a clear, comprehensive campus sexual violence policy, notify student survivors about their rights, provide a confidential advisor to survivors to help them understand their options and rights, adopt a fair and balanced process for adjudicating allegations of sexual violence, train students and campus employees to prevent sexual violence, allow students to report information electronically, allow a third party or bystander to report an incident, and respond to a report submitted electronically within 12 hours.
The Ensuring Success in Schools Law (ESSL) will go into effect in 2025. It gives schools clear parameters for what they must do to support survivors of domestic or sexual violence or gender-based harassment. It mandates that the correct measures be taken to help vulnerable students succeed by:
- Allowing excused absences related to a student surviving gender-based violence, being pregnant, or parenting.
- Ensuring one staff member is trained to help advocate for students and connect them to resources inside and outside of school.
- Creating confidentiality protocols to help students feel safe to disclose when they need help.
- Eliminating inappropriate questioning by clarifying what proofs of violence are necessary so child survivors of trauma are only interviewed by trained professionals.
It is best to speak to an attorney who specializes in education matters, like those at CAASE, about your options, rights, and how laws may apply to your case.
We may be able to help you get accommodations, assert your rights, and take action if they are violated or if your school is not complying with the law. Call us at 773-244-2230 ext. 205, or email legal@caase.org to learn more or schedule a consultation. All our legal services are free.
What Types of Harassment or Assault Should My School Protect Me From?
Harmful behaviors are often normalized in our society, making them hard for people to call out. Some examples of behaviors that are abusive and your school should help support you through are when someone is:
- Contacting you repeatedly with unwanted texts, messages, and/or calls
- Keeping tabs on where you are, demanding to know what you are doing, following you, or stalking you
- Threatening you verbally or physically
- Physically abusing you, such as slapping, punching, kicking, or choking you
- Making repeated sexual comments about you, including on social media and/ messaging platforms
- Verbally abusing you with anti-LGBTQ+, gender, or sex-based insults
- Pressuring you to take part in sexual acts
- Sharing private or nude pictures of you without your permission
- Interfering with your birth control
- Touching you sexually against your will
- Attempting or forcing you to have oral, vaginal, or anal sex
Many of the behaviors listed above are sexually abusive or harassing. If you’ve experienced them and want legal assistance, call us at 773-244-2230 ext. 205, or email legal@caase.org to learn more or schedule a consultation. All our legal services are free. Even if CAASE can’t assist you, we will attempt to connect you to another attorney and or supportive resources.
What Other Legal Services Does CAASE Provide?
We understand that survivors seek healing and justice in a variety of ways. That’s why we provide individualized legal advice. While our attorneys represent survivors of sexual violence in civil litigation—including protective orders, employment and education matters, and other civil lawsuits, we can also assist survivors who choose to engage with the criminal justice system. Learn more about our other legal services here.