Betsy DeVos’s new college plan allows alleged sexual offenders to demand proof from their victims

UNITED STATES
Yahoo Lifestyle

August 29, 2018

By Elise Solé

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is introducing new measures to colleges and universities that would, among other changes, allow people accused of sexual misconduct to cross-examine their victims and request evidence.

According to the New York Times, which obtained the proposed rules, last fall DeVos rescinded a 2011 letter prepared by the Obama administration, which detailed how schools that receive federal funding should handle sexual crimes.

“The truth is that the system established by the prior administration has failed too many students,” DeVos said in September 2017. “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.”

As the Times reports, DeVos’s rules would maintain much of the law under Title IX, a federal civil rights law, which protects students from sex and gender discrimination, along with sexual misconduct. However, there are notable changes.

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