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Education Dive
BREAKING: DeVos releases final Title IX rules, easing colleges' burden to investigate sexual assaults
Survivor advocates have for years been critical of the department's
plans, and lawmakers more recently called for delaying the rules
because of the coronavirus.
Jeremy Bauer-Wolf
May 6, 2020
The U.S. Department of Education on Wednesday issued final regulations
that will govern how colleges handle incidents of sexual misconduct on
campus.
The rules will likely face significant blowback from advocates of
sexual assault survivors, who say the department is undoing important
protections by reducing institutional responsibility in investigating
certain incidents, narrowing the definition of sexual assault and
forcing officials to hold hearings that require cross-examination.
While previous administrations have issued guidance on how institutions
should interpret Title IX, the federal law banning sex discrimination
on campuses, they did not carry the same force of law as the
regulations Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is implementing.
These regulations have been more than two years in the making. DeVos
rescinded the Obama administration's guidance on Title IX in September
2017. At the time, the department declared that the guidance unfairly
deprived accused students of due process rights. Her complaint was a
common one among civil liberties activists in the last eight years, who
commonly derided colleges' processes as "kangaroo courts."
DeVos released her proposal in late 2018 and was immediately blasted by
those advocating for victims of sexual misconduct. The regulations went
through a public comment period at the end of 2018 that was extended
through the beginning of 2019. The department was legally required to
sift through the tens of thousands of statements that were submitted,
an overwhelming number of which were critical of the regulations.
The department did not markedly deviate from its original draft for the
final version. In general, the rules offer more due process protections
than did the guidance from the Obama administration, essentially
setting up a courtroom-style hearing for adjudicating sexual violence.
Accused students and alleged victims would be allowed to question the
other either directly or through a representative. The Obama guidelines
and advocates of sexual misconduct survivors have long discouraged
direct contact between the two parties.
The accused and their accuser would also each have access to all
evidence in the case. Previously, institutions were allowed to exclude
information from a case file that they believed might not have bearing
on its outcome.
The rules also newly reinforce that colleges must address dating violence as part of their Title IX obligations.
Advocacy groups and lawmakers had urged DeVos to delay the rules amid
the coronavirus pandemic, arguing that colleges were overburdened from
fallout related to the virus.
The new rules are effective Aug. 14, 2020.
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