Katherine Greenier is the Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of VA Patricia M. Arnold Women’s Rights Project. The Patricia M. Arnold Women’s Rights Project combats gender bias in Virginia by protecting and advancing the equal rights of women through public education, advocacy, and litigation. Key areas of concern include equal educational and economic opportunities for women, reproductive rights, violence against women, and the treatment of incarcerated women. She is an alum of New York Law School (NYLS), where she focused her studies on constitutional law and social justice advocacy. Katherine served as co-chair of the NYLS Justice Action Center's Street Law Project and head of the campus arm of the American Civil Liberties Union. In her second year at NYLS, Katherine was a law student advocate in the Urban Law Clinic where she represented low-income clients in special education hearings and employment discrimination mediation. Katherine also worked with the NYLS Justice Action Center's Racial Justice Project on "school to prison pipeline" and other education issues, conducting research, assisting in impact litigation, and working with a team of students to research and write an amicus curiae brief on behalf of the University of Texas in the appeal of Fisher v. Texas, before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Prior to attending NYLS, Katherine graduated from Mount Holyoke College, with a major in history and minor in political science.
Although most people know that Title IX requires schools to provide girls and boys with equal athletic opportunities, it goes much further and is intended to ensure that our schools are free of gender-based discrimination and harassment across all educational and extra-curricular programs. It’s time to put more effort into making this a reality.
Board members faced with “legal advice” from the AG’s office that is clearly informed more by political objectives than legal principles should decline to follow it and take whatever action is necessary to see that the regulations that they believe are in the best interests of Virginians are published and implemented.
One in five women are sexually assaulted while in college, and approximately 81 percent of students experienced some form of sexual harassment during their school years. An analsyis of sexual assault on Virginia campuses revealed that such crimes were rarely prosecuted, although under Title IX, schools receiving federal funds have a legal obligation to protect students from gender-based violence and harassment.
While October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, it may be the grim August murder of Crystal Ragin and her three children in Newport News, VA that serves as the year’s most dramatic reminder that more must be done to protect women from violence.
Tomorrow, September 17 is Constitution Day, a day to commemorate the formation and signing of the Constitution and to celebrate the rights guaranteed within. In place of celebration, we are reminded that women’s rights are under attack.
Fourteen states currently limit the use of restraints on pregnant inmates, and now Virginia is one of the few states with forward-thinking policies regarding the use of restraints on pregnant inmates. However, local and regional jails in Virginia are not subject to the DOC regulations, so pregnant women at those facilities are still at risk.
Virginia’s Governor continues to play politics with women’s health by amending HB 2434 to prohibit all insurance plans sold in Virginia under health reform from covering the cost of abortions.
On Feb. 4, the Virginia General Assembly’s House Militia, Police and Public Safety Committee defeated a bill that would have limited the use of restraints on pregnant inmates.
