DeVos to rewrite rules on campus sex assault
ARLINGTON, Va. — Saying that the Obama administration’s approach to policing campus sexual assault has “failed too many students,” Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said Thursday that her administration would rewrite the rules in an effort to protect both the victims of sexual assault and the accused.
DeVos did not say what changes she had in mind. But in a strongly worded speech, she made clear she believed that in an effort to protect victims, the previous administration had gone too far and forced colleges to adopt procedures that sometimes deprived accused students of their rights.
“Through intimidation and coercion, the failed system has clearly pushed schools to overreach,” she said in an address at George Mason University in suburban Arlington, Va. “With the heavy hand of Washington tipping the balance of her scale, the sad reality is that Lady Justice is not blind on campuses today.”
Advocates for assault victims reacted strongly and swiftly. The National Women’s Law Center said DeVos’ plan to issue new rules to colleges was “a blunt attack on survivors of sexual assault.”
“It will discourage schools from taking steps to comply with the law — just at the moment when they are finally working to get it right,” the group said. “And it sends a frightening message to all students: Your government does not have your back if your rights are violated.”
But DeVos’ remarks, delivered to a student chapter of the Federalist Society, an organization of conservative and libertarian lawyers, echoed complaints by conservatives and lawyers for accused students that colleges were punishing students unfairly.
Frederick M. Hess, director of education policy for the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute, noted that courts have reversed some punishments handed down by campus administrators.
“I think DeVos laid out a sensible, responsible approach to crafting a more measured policy that can better secure the rights of all involved,” he said.
In recent years, campuses across the country have been roiled by high-profile sexual assault cases. A scandal involving the Baylor University football team ultimately led to the removal of the school’s president, Kenneth Starr, the former independent counsel whose work led to President Bill Clinton’s impeachment.
A 2015 survey of students at 27 schools, commissioned by the Association of American Universities, found that nearly one in four women had complained of sexual assault or sexual misconduct. Advocates for victims seized on the study, but as with similar reports, it was criticized by some for overstating the problem, and even its authors acknowledged that it had limitations.
Though DeVos said she believed that accused students were often mistreated, she also said that victims were being illserved by a quasi-judicial process that lacked the sophistication required for such sensitive matters.
DeVos repeatedly used the term “survivors,” a term often preferred by victims when speaking of sexual assault. And she also vowed that colleges would not return to the days when sexual assault complaints were ignored.
“One rape is one too many,” she said. “One assault is one too many. One aggressive act of harassment is one too many.”
But her remarks focused more heavily on the young men who, she said, were denied due process in campus proceedings, sometimes attempting suicide.
She referred to campus sexual misconduct hearings as “kangaroo courts” that forced administrators to act as “judge and jury.” Referring to scores of lawsuits filed by punished students, she said: “Survivors aren’t well served when they are re-traumatized with appeal after appeal because the failed system failed the accused. And no student should be forced to sue their way to due process.”
Though she announced no specific changes Thursday, DeVos did say she would open a public comment period, an administrative step taken before a government agency issues new guidelines.