WH Scraps Obama-Era Guidance On Investigating Campus Sexual Assault

Education Secretary-designate Betsy DeVos testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017, at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Friday scrapped Obama-era guidance on investigating campus sexual assault, replacing it with new interim instructions allowing universities to decide which standard of evidence to use when handling complaints.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has said the Obama rules were unfairly skewed against the students accused of assault.

“This interim guidance will help schools as they work to combat sexual misconduct and will treat all students fairly,” DeVos said in a statement.

“Schools must continue to confront these horrific crimes and behaviors head-on. There will be no more sweeping them under the rug. But the process also must be fair and impartial, giving everyone more confidence in its outcomes,” she said.

DeVos’ temporary guidance allows colleges the freedom to decide which standards of evidence they want to use when investigating complaints of sexual assault. Under Obama’s instructions from 2011 and 2014, colleges were told to use “the preponderance of the evidence” standards, while DeVos lets colleges choose between that standard and “the clear and convincing evidence standard,” which is harder to meet.

The temporary guidance will be in place while the Education Department gathers comments and comes up with new rules.

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Notable Replies

  1. I can assume the changes are really bad and BTW DeVos sucks, but I’d like to know what the changes are, since I’ve heard of this for several weeks.

  2. See what big money will buy you. She’s never seen the walls of a public school and yet she has the gall to weaken protections for female victims. She needs to be fired immediately

    She is unfit to be called a gender sister of mine. You are a disgrace to the female gender. U

  3. That’s one issue no one can accuse Trump of a flip flop. A lifetime of pro sexual assault.

  4. This is by far the most important thing the Secretary of Education needs to be doing. I mean, the US Education system is the envy of the world and needs little to no improvements. Except maybe getting Nambia correctly located on those maps of Africa.

  5. When Trump expresses his wishes, well, ya gotta pay attention…

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