Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced Thursday that she will be reviewing Obama-era campus sexual assault standards in an attempt to "balance" the scales of "Lady Justice."
Under former President Barack Obama, schools were urged to pursue sexual harassment and assault cases under the Title IX anti-discrimination law, a policy DeVos criticized for being unfair and complicated. "Instead of working with schools on behalf of students, the prior administration weaponized the Office for Civil Rights to work against schools and against students," she said, vowing that "the era of 'rule by letter' is over."
DeVos emphasized that while "every survivor of sexual misconduct must be taken seriously, every student accused of sexual misconduct must know that guilt is not predetermined":
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
This conversation has too often been framed as a contest between men and women or the rights of sexual misconduct survivors and the due process rights of accused students. The reality is, however, a different picture. There are men and women, boys and girls, who are survivors, and there are men and women, boys and girls who are wrongfully accused. I've met them personally. I've heard their stories. And the rights of one person can never be paramount to the rights of another. [Department of Education]
"Any perceived offense can become a full-blown Title IX investigation," DeVos added. "But if everything is harassment, then nothing is."
An estimated 11 percent of students in America experience rape or sexual assault while in college and four out of five female students don't report incidents of sexual violence, RAINN reports. Read DeVos' full remarks here.
-
‘Congratulations on your house, but maybe try a greyhound instead’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
How climate change poses a national security threatThe explainer A global problem causing more global problems
-
The 5 best TV shows about the mobThe Week Recommends From the show that launched TV’s golden age to a Batman spin-off, viewers can’t get enough of these magnificent mobsters
-
Trump pardons crypto titan who enriched familySpeed Read Binance founder Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty in 2023 to enabling money laundering while CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange
-
Thieves nab French crown jewels from LouvreSpeed Read A gang of thieves stole 19th century royal jewels from the Paris museum’s Galerie d’Apollon
-
Arsonist who attacked Shapiro gets 25-50 yearsSpeed Read Cody Balmer broke into the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion and tried to burn it down
-
Man charged over LA’s deadly Palisades Firespeed read 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht has been arrested in connection with the fire that killed 12 people
-
4 dead in shooting, arson attack in Michigan churchSpeed Read A gunman drove a pickup truck into a Mormon church where he shot at congregants and then set the building on fire
-
2 kids killed in shooting at Catholic school massSpeed Read 17 others were wounded during a morning mass at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis
-
Australian woman found guilty of mushroom murdersspeed read Erin Patterson murdered three of her ex-husband's relatives by serving them toxic death cap mushrooms
-
Combs convicted on 2 of 5 charges, denied bailSpeed Read Sean 'Diddy' Combs was acquitted of the more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking
