READ THIS: DoED New Title IX Rules Are Revealed. Here’s What They Say.
Under new rules pertaining to Title IX, the federal statute that forbids sex discrimination in education, the Education Department will clarify that school officials must adopt procedures that protect students from harassment while still guaranteeing due process rights for the accused. I have now read the full proposal: a 120-page document that is “intended to promote the purpose of Title IX by requiring recipients to address sexual harassment, assisting and protecting victims of sexual harassment and ensuring that due process protections are in place for individuals accused of sexual harassment.” The new rules make one thing abundantly clear: Those who claimed this move by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos represented some kind of attack on women were wildly off-base. Know Your IX, an activist group that serves alleged victims of campus sex assault, claimed that the rules are “worse than we could have imagined.” This is an absurd mischaracterization of the document, which you can read for yourself here. One of the most praiseworthy aspects of the proposal is the mandate to train Title IX adjudicators using unbiased materials that do not “rely on sex stereotypes and instead must promote impartial investigations.” Title IX officials must also make training materials available for accused students to peruse, which means that underlying bias could be made more evident. In summary, the new rules offer a workable definition of sexual harassment, explain the circumstances in which school officials are obligated to respond to accusations, and establish “procedural safeguard” to protect both the accuser and the accused.
reason.com By Robby Soave
