A Sea Change for Sexual Conduct on Campus
December 14, 2018
News Article
On Nov. 16, controversial U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos issued new Title IX rules on how schools receiving federal funds are to handle accusations of sexual misconduct. Title IX is the 1972 regulation that prohibits gender discrimination in education. Its definition of sexual harassment had expanded dramatically over the years while due process for those accused had shrunk. DeVos’s revision returns to due process.
A furor greeted its release.
The changes do not need congressional approval—only a 60-day public-comment period, ending January 28. So in #MeToo fashion, opponents have used social media to pit an accuser’s “right” to be believed against an accused’s right to due process.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) charged DeVos with throwing “schools to a time where sexual assault and harassment were swept under the rug.” A former education secretary under Barack Obama, John B. King Jr. called the new rules
