The U.S. Department of Education on Wednesday published an unofficial version of its long-awaited final regulations governing campus sexual assault under Title IX, the law prohibiting sex discrimination at federally funded institutions.
It took nearly a year and a half for the department’s Office of Civil Rights, or OCR, to review more than 124,000 public comments on the issue and finalize the proposed regulations, which were published in November 2018. The regulations will be the first Title IX guidance published by OCR to go through a formal notice and comment process since 1997, and will have the force of law, whereas guidance issued by the Obama administration in 2011 and 2014 did not. Colleges and universities will need to be in compliance with the regulations by Aug. 14.
The 2011 guidance, referred to as the Dear Colleague letter and rescinded in 2017 by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, stated college officials should use a “preponderance of the evidence standard” to determine guilt in sexual misconduct complaints, basing decisions on the most convincing evidence presented. The Obama-era guidance was followed by an explosion of civil lawsuits filed mostly by male students accused of sexual misconduct, who alleged their rights were violated by unfair Title IX procedures at their college. The 2020 regulations will instead allow Title IX officials at colleges to use either a preponderance of the evidence or “clear and convincing” standard, which sets a higher burden of proof.
The 2020 regulations say they aim to secure due process rights for students who report sexual misconduct or are accused of it, by requiring colleges to provide a live hearing and allowing student advisers to cross-examine parties and witnesses involved. Statements made by parties that are not cross-examined cannot be relied on to determine guilt, says a summary of major provisions in the regulations. This feature of the regulations has been a point of contention for advocates for survivors of campus sexual assault, who say live questioning could retraumatize and prevent alleged victims from coming forward to report sexual misconduct.
The regulations also explicitly define the scope of colleges’ responsibility to respond to complaints of sexual misconduct. Colleges must act upon complaints of misconduct that occurs within an education program, such as in off-campus housing for recognized Greek life organizations or at events that are part of a university program. But a college “may address sexual harassment affecting its students or employees that falls outside Title IX’s jurisdiction in any manner the school chooses,” the regulations say.
from Inside Higher Ed | News https://ift.tt/2WwOQGh
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