Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said that existing federal guidelines on campus sexual assault would be replaced with procedures that would respect the rights of both the accuser and the accused.
“This conversation may be uncomfortable, but we must have it,” DeVos said in an address at the George Mason University Antonin Scalia School of Law. “It is our moral obligation to get this right.”
DeVos announced on Thursday that the Department would initiate a public notice and comment period before issuing new regulation under Title IX, the federal law that bars discrimination in education on the basis of gender. Over recent months DeVos had signaled an interest in reviewing federal guidance on campus sexual violence, meeting with three groups in roundtable discussions in July. The groups represented survivors and advocates, campus leaders and lawyers, and controversially, groups representing the falsely accused.
“Let me be clear at the outset: acts of sexual misconduct are reprehensible, disgusting, and unacceptable,” DeVos said. “They are acts of cowardice and personal weakness, often thinly disguised as strength and power.
Subsequent to July’s meeting, victims of sexual assault and advocates worried that DeVos might be planning to rescind Obama-era guidance from ED’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), which established the burden of proof schools used to determine the guilt of the accused, and also provided a framework for schools to follow as they investigate and adjudicate sexual assault allegations.
A department spokesperson confirmed that 2011 guidance would remain in place for now, but would eventually be replaced with a “workable system that is fair for all students.”
Colleges and universities are required under Title IX to ensure that students are protected from sexual harassment and violence while on campus. Obama-era guidance from the OCR, notably the 2011 Dear Colleague letter and subsequent guidance published in 2014, was an attempt on ED’s part to clarify the procedures schools should follow.
