The American Association of University Women (AAUW) is switching from offensive to defensive mode in the wake of the Nov. 5 presidential election results.
Meghan Kissell, AAUW Senior Director of Policy and Member Advocacy, told local AAUW members last month the organization did not expect a Republican “trifecta” with control of the presidency and both houses of Congress. The presidential inauguration is set for Jan. 20.
Kissell focused on how the new administration will impact AAUW’s policy positions according to their public statements.
“We had been in optimism mode, thinking of all the things we could accomplish toward AAUW’s mission of supporting social and racial justice for women and girls,” Kissell told members of the AAUW Silicon Valley branch Dec. 4. “We are now in defensive mode, with many areas of concern including conservation, the “culture wars” and LGBTQ issues. We must focus on our principles, and on those areas where we can have the most impact at the federal level.”
In her talk, titled, “AAUW Priorities in Light of the Election Results,” Kissell said the national AAUW organization will be thinking in two-year segments, hoping to influence the next Congressional elections.
She said the AAUW Policy Committee is concerned with the quality of the nominee for head of the Department of Education. Linda McMahon has no education experience beyond serving on a university board of trustees and the Connecticut State Board of Education, Kissell said. Her experience has been as founder of WWE (a wrestling entertainment company) and as head of the Small Business Administration in Trump’s previous term in office. She has a limited view of student civil rights concerns, Kissell said.
AAUW’s key focus area will be education, particularly higher education. The first big fight will be McMahon’s stated desire to shift focus away from degree programs toward workforce development; this could impact Pell Grant funds with the likely effect of limiting upward mobility for the less privileged.
The second big fight will be preserving gains won for women’s health and education under Title IX. The new administration has indicated a wish to restrict Title IX protections as much as possible, with changes in due process rules which appear to assume that the victim of a sexual assault is lying unless she can provide hard evidence otherwise.
“Unfortunately,” Kissell , “the Biden administration dragged their feet on codifying due process for Title IX violations; the second Trump administration is poised to move faster. … We expect three giant steps backward.”
“Some Republicans think they have a mandate,” said Kissell, “but this is not true. … It will be a wild ride, but we must make sure that we don’t allow the normalization of unacceptable behaviors and ideas.”
In a Q&A session following her talk, Kissell dismissed talk of elimination of the Department of Education as not feasible, “but you can do a lot of damage by cutting staff and funding.”
An audience member asked about AAUW’s status under the recent bill HR 9495 which allows the Treasury to revoke the non-profit status of organizations that are deemed to support terrorism. Kissell agreed that this broadly drawn bill could be abused, but “we are not high on the list.”
She reminded the audience that the national organization of AAUW can only take on a limited number of issues at the national level. These will include support for child care and parental leave so that women can achieve in higher education, countering attacks on diversity, and maintaining equity for women in education and employment. Support for the Paycheck Fairness Act and the Equal Rights Amendment will be ongoing.
Kissell noted that language is important in framing issues.
“DEI incites a frenzy over something most people can’t even define. But if one talks about Equal Opportunity, most people are for it. We need to rebuild trust and communication and find common values to go forward,” Kissell said. “It will be up to local branches and individual members to support the AAUW mission with local school boards at the K-12 level. Individuals need to hold local school boards accountable for maintaining the separation of church and state, teaching fact-based history, proper management of charter schools, and other local issues.
“Here is where local action has an impact!” Kissell said. “Find other local organizations with similar goals to partner with. Raise your voices.”
The talk was organized by the AAUW – Silicon Valley branch, which includes Los Altos, Mountain View. For information about activities and membership in the local branch, visit siliconvalley-ca.aauw.net.
