Rutgers University is a great example. There, all students over 18 are eligible to become confidential sexual assault advocates. After completing a 60-hour training, the student counselor has the legal protection she needs to promise any victim that her story will stay between the two of them.
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May 06, 2020 · In September 2017, she rescinded two Obama-era sexual assault policies because they “lacked basic elements of due process and failed to ensure fundamental fairness.” DeVos said at the time that the prior guidelines failed to give male students accused of sexual assault the proper presumption of innocence, which violated their due process ...
Education Secretary Betsy Devos, seen on March 27, has released new rules for sexual assault complaints on college campuses. Jim Watson/AFP via …
In the News. A Long and Complicated Road Ahead - Inside Higher Ed (1/22/21); U.S. Publishes New Regulations on Campus Sexual Assault - Inside Higher Ed (5/7/20); DeVos's Rules Bolster Rights of Students Accused of Sexual Misconduct - The New York Times (5/6/20); Round-up: Sex Assault Rules Under DeVos Bolster Defendants’ Rights and Ease College Liability - Multiple …
Feb 15, 2019 · Colleges and universities across California are scrambling to revise their Title IX procedures after a state appellate court ruled that accused students have a right to a …
The new policy also reduces legal liabilities for schools and colleges, and narrows the scope of cases schools will be required to investigate.
Secretary DeVos Announces New Title IX Regulation by U.S. Department of Education on YouTube. Under the new rules, the definition of sexual harassment is narrowed to include only misconduct that is "so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive" that it effectively denies the victim access to the school's education programs.
The Obama administration, by contrast, used a wider definition that included a range of conduct that "interferes with or limits" a student's access to the school. It said that could include "unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal, nonverbal, or physical conduct of a sexual nature.".
Under the new regulations, students also have a right to appeal, and schools are allowed to raise the evidentiary standard from "a preponderance of the evidence" to "clear and convincing," making it harder to find a student responsible for misconduct.
Doe, however, who was accused of an alleged assault during a private weekend jaunt hundreds of miles away from school during summer break, says the new rules prevent that kind of "overreach." His accuser wasn't a student at his college anymore. He says, "I just don't think that's reasonable."
Two federal laws address sexual violence at institutions of higher education. The first is the Clery Act, which addresses Campus Safety by requiring institutions of higher education to disclose campus crime statistics and security policies. The Clery Act was amended most recently by the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013. Final regulations implementing these changes went into effect on July 1, 2015.
Students attending college should expect to find a safe and supportive campus environment. Campus safety issues—particularly as they relate to incidents of sexual assault—are receiving heightened national attention, as they should. Initiatives to enhance campus safety must assure the safety and fair treatment of all students.
The Department also modified its Title IX enforcement efforts with respect to campus sexual assault by shifting investigative focus to other types of discrimination claims, and by reducing the length and breadth of investigations. On November 29, 2018, the Department issued proposed Title IX regulations on campus sexual assault.
The final Title IX regulations were published on May 19, ...
Suhauna Hussain is a reporter at the Los Angeles Times. Before joining The Times in 2018, she wrote for the Tampa Bay Times, the Center for Public Integrity, the East Bay Express, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and independent student-run newspaper, the Daily Californian.
The rules would apply to Title IX, which bans discrimination based on sex in educational programs and activities at schools that receive federal funding. At many campuses, investigations are conducted in small, private settings.
Suzanne Taylor, University of California’s interim systemwide Title IX coordinator, said UC began exploring how to create a “fair and compassionate” hearing model after DeVos unveiled her proposed rules, but Taylor said the court ruling has given that effort “more urgency.”.
Many universities adopted new Title IX procedures in 2016, as directed by the Obama administration, to become more sensitive to victims — such as indirect questioning. Those changes set off a national backlash. Students accused of sexual misconduct have filed scores of lawsuits arguing that campuses denied them fair hearings.
Since joining the Times in 1989, she has covered immigration, ethnic communities, religion, Pacific Rim business and served as Tokyo correspondent and bureau chief. She also covered Asia, national affairs and state government for the San Jose Mercury News and wrote editorials for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. A Seattle native, she graduated from USC in journalism and in East Asian languages and culture.
CONCORD, N.H. — On a Thursday morning in late February last year, first-year Dartmouth College student David Millman traveled from Hanover to Concord to testify in front of the state's Senate Judiciary Committee. He hitched a ride with State Rep. Garrett Muscatel, who was on his way to work.
The students who led the effort are part of a volunteer-run organization called the Every Voice Coalition, founded by Massachusetts college students in 2014, now in several states .
The looser guidelines give schools more freedom to offer informal resolution processes, to use a case standard that sets a higher burden of proof of guilt, and allow cross-examination during a live hearing.
New Hampshire’s legislation requires institutions to work more closely with local crisis centers and law enforcement, provide anti-retaliation protections for reporting parties, and mandates transparent data collection and awareness programming.
During the Obama administration, the department launched more than 300 investigations into schools' handling of complaints, as potential violations of Title IX, the landmark legislation guaranteeing women equal rights to education.
Likewise, colleges nationwide are expanding the ranks of Title IX coordinators and other professionals tasked with handling complaints of sexual violence, and otherwise keeping the school in line with federal requirements, such as promptly investigating all complaints filed and protecting victims' confidentiality.
While most colleges have been using "preponderance of the evidence" – a civil court standard – to determine responsibility, this has raised concerns about whether the accused are being treated fairly. A slew of lawsuits directed at colleges in the past few years by accused students have claimed violations of due process.