The Country Is Torn Over Betsy DeVos ’ New Campus Sexual Assault Guidelines

The U.S. Education Department rolled back Obama-era Title IX guidelines on investigating cases of sexual assault on campus Friday, prompting criticism from victims’ rights groups and cheers from organizations representing people accused of assault. “Today, Betsy DeVos and the Trump Administration chose to tip the scales in favor of rapists and perpetrators,” the group End Rape on Campus said in a statement. “Rolling back this guidance is an affront to the students, survivors, and allies who have fought to bring the sexual assault epidemic out of the shadows.” One key change in the new interim guidance is that now schools are directed to choose which standard of evidence to use in investigating sexual assault cases. Under the Obama Administration, schools were told to use a “preponderance of evidence” standard, which requires that 50% of evidence must point to the crime. Now, schools can opt to use a more rigorous “clear and convincing evidence” standard, which requires a higher burden of proof. The interim guidance “will discourage students from reporting assaults, create uncertainty for schools on how to follow the law, and make campuses less safe,” Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center, said in a statement. “This misguided directive is a huge step back to a time when sexual assault was a secret that was swept under the rug.” Groups that represent people wh...
Source: TIME.com: Top Science and Health Stories - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Betsy DeVos Education onetime Source Type: news