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A New Approach to Enforcement on Campus Sex Assault

DeVos Title IX enforcement package

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has vowed to replace key Obama-era guidance outlining how colleges should respond to reports of sexual violence, saying that her agency’s previous approach had failed too many students. This collection of Chronicle articles explores what the government’s new approach to enforcement might mean for sexual-assault survivors, accused students, and colleges.

“We have to make it easier to report sexual harassment,” said Sen. Patty Murray (left, at an earlier event), Democrat of Washington, “not make it harder.”
News
Congress Wants a Say in the Title IX Debate. What Might That Look Like?
By Sarah Brown
On Tuesday senators discussed how they might address campus sexual assault, including hot-button issues like cross-examination of accusers, in the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos
News
What Does Higher Ed Have to Say About the Proposed Title IX Rules?
By Sarah Brown
A coalition of 60 higher-education groups submitted public comments saying the proposed regulations would make campus proceedings too legalistic and burdensome.
Under draft Title IX regulations proposed by the Education Department under Betsy DeVos, the rights of accused students would be strengthened and colleges’ liability would be lessened.
News
The Fight Over Title IX Has Reached the Comments Section. Here’s What People Are Saying.
By Steven Johnson
Given the chance to weigh in on a proposed overhaul of how colleges are required to handle sexual-misconduct complaints, Americans have flooded the Education Department with personal stories, statistics, and pleas.
Under draft regulations proposed by the Education Department under Betsy DeVos, the rights of accused students would be strengthened and colleges’ liability would be lessened. But it’s unclear when final rules will be issued and if they will follow the draft language.
News
What You Need to Know About the Proposed Title IX Regulations
By Sarah Brown, Katherine Mangan
The long-awaited draft rules would replace the Obama administration’s guidance, which had called for more aggressive enforcement of the 1972 law mandating gender equity among colleges that accept federal money.
Under draft regulations proposed by the Education Department under Betsy DeVos, the rights of accused students would be strengthened and colleges’ liability would be lessened. But it’s unclear when final rules will be issued and if they will follow the draft language.
Title IX
DeVos’s Rules on Sexual Misconduct, Long Awaited on Campuses, Reflect Her Interim Policy
By Sarah Brown
The draft regulations, obtained by The New York Times, would strengthen the rights of accused students and lessen colleges’ liability. But it’s unclear when the final rules will be issued and if they will follow the draft language.
New Title IX Proposals Would Restore Fairness to Sexual-Misconduct Cases 1
The Review
New Title IX Proposal Would Restore Fairness in Sexual-Misconduct Cases
By Justin Dillon
Accusers would have more options than committing to a full-fledged investigation or doing nothing.
Under Betsy DeVos, the Education Dept. has rescinded Obama-era rules for compliance with the key federal gender-equity statute, and plans to issue new rules of its own. The previous guidance led to more lawyers representing accused rapists on campus. Now even more lawyers may get involved.
Legal
With Title IX Guidance in Flux, It May Be ‘Open Hunting Season’ for Lawyers
By Lee Gardner
Obama-era guidance led to more lawyers representing accused rapists on campus. Now that the guidance has been rescinded, even more lawyers may get involved.
In a speech this month at George Mason U., the education secretary, Betsy DeVos, heightened fears among advocates for sexual-assault victims that the Education Dept. planned to roll back Obama-era rules for complying with Title IX. In the wake of her announcement on Friday, college administrators said they’d stay the course in responding to sexual assault for now, but remained anxious about what’s to come.
News
What Does the End of Obama’s Title IX Guidance Mean for Colleges?
By Sarah Brown
Campus administrators say they’ll stay the course in responding to sexual assault for now, but they’re anxious about what’s to come.
DeVos Title IX changes
News
What You Need to Know About the New Guidance on Title IX
By Katherine Mangan
Here’s a guide to the Education Department’s question-and-answer document on campus sexual assault, which contains changes that are already stirring controversy.
Betsy DeVos, the education secretary: "Survivors, victims of a lack of due process, and campus administrators have all told me that the current approach does a disservice to everyone involved."
News
Citing Obama-Era Failures, DeVos Will Replace Landmark Directive on Sexual Assault
By Adam Harris, Eric Kelderman
After a speech by the education secretary, a spokeswoman said that, until the revision of the 2011 “Dear Colleague” letter, the department would “make clear to schools how to fulfill their current obligations under Title IX.”
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos
News
A DeVos Speech on Title IX Heightens Advocates’ Fears That a Rollback Is Imminent
By Adam Harris, Andy Thomason
The education secretary will make a “major policy address on Title IX enforcement” on Thursday, and advocates fear a landmark directive from the Obama era is in the cross hairs.
title ix promo tilt
Government
Federal Sex-Assault Investigations Are Being Resolved More Often. These 11 Cases Show How.
By Nick DeSantis
Under President Trump, the Education Department’s civil-rights office is cutting through the backlog of cases more quickly, more quietly, and more often through “administrative closure.”
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos held meetings last week about whether to reject or soften Obama-era guidance on sexual-misconduct policies on campuses under Title IX.
Sexual Assault
Students Accused of Sexual Assault Have the Government’s Ear. What Are Their Goals?
By Sarah Brown
These students and their allies stress that they want the campus disciplinary process to be fair. But that’s not all they’re fighting for.
Betsy DeVos, the education secretary, was greeted with protests and skepticism on Thursday from advocates of victims of campus rape during a day of meetings on the issue. "We can’t go back to the days when allegations were swept under the rug," she told reporters.
Sexual Assault
After Meeting With DeVos, Title IX Activists Say They Still Have Many Questions
By Sarah Brown
“We need to get this right,” Ms. DeVos said of preventing and responding to campus sexual assault. But she offered no specifics on her plans for change.
Candice Jackson (center), acting under secretary for civil rights, said 90 percent of campus-rape allegations "fall into the category of ‘we were both drunk,’ ‘we broke up, and six months later I found myself under a Title IX investigation because she just decided that our last sleeping together was not quite right.'" She subsequently apologized, but what does the research say about alcohol and sexual assault?
Sexual Assault
Ed. Dept. Official Apologizes for ‘90%’ Remark on Campus Rape. What’s the Research?
By Sarah Brown
Candice Jackson stirred outrage ahead of a Title IX summit by asserting that the vast majority of sexual-assault complaints “fall into the category of ‘we were both drunk.’”
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is holding separate meetings this week with groups on all sides of the debate over campus sexual assault and Title IX enforcement.
Campus Safety
What Victims’ Advocates and Due-Process Supporters Hope to Accomplish When They Meet DeVos
By Sarah Brown
Activists on all sides of the fraught debate over campus sexual assault and Title IX enforcement are meeting with the education secretary this week. Some of them talked with The Chronicle about their priorities for those conversations.
The tone at the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights has long been that investigators "should keep looking until they find something," Candice Jackson, acting assistant secretary of that office, told campus lawyers on Tuesday. She vowed to work more collaboratively with college’s legal teams.
Sexual Assault
College Lawyers Welcome New Clarity of Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights
By Eric Kelderman
The Trump administration is responding to their frustrations about guidance on how to deal with sexual assaults, campus legal officials say.
Candice Jackson, acting head of the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, has directed the office to scale back on when it expands the investigation of a Title IX complaint into a broader review. The office may also face major budget cuts.
News
In the Time of Trump, Colleges Start to ‘Make Title IX Our Own’
By Sarah Brown
After the president’s election, speculation abounded that colleges might scale back their efforts to combat sexual violence. Instead, many Title IX coordinators are trying to chart a new path forward.
Nearly six years ago, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. traveled to the U. of New Hampshire to unveil the Obama administration’s influential "Dear Colleague" letter, putting the weight of the White House behind the battle against campus sexual assault.
News
How a 20-Page Letter Changed the Way Higher Education Handles Sexual Assault
By Robin Wilson
The Obama administration’s influential “Dear Colleague” letter on sexual assault reflected a desire to make assault prevention a national issue. Here’s how that document was born.
Under pressure from President Obama’s Education Department, colleges have transformed how they respond to students’ reports of sexual misconduct, and those practices are unlikely to change, experts say.
Campus Safety
Trump Administration May Back Away From Title IX, but Campuses Won’t
By Robin Wilson
Even if the new president reduces or ends enforcement of the gender-equity law, colleges are likely to remain focused on the issue.