SEATTLE _ Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has proposed narrowing schools' obligations when it comes to responding to sexual misconduct. Starting Thursday, you can tell the U.S. Department of Education what you think about her desired changes to Title IX regulations.
DeVos' proposal is a departure from Obama-era guidance for Title IX, a federal civil rights law that prohibits gender discrimination in schools that receive public funding. These changes, DeVos has said, would make the process fairer to accused students and their schools.
The proposal _ leaked in September and officially released by the Education Department mostly unchanged this month _ has been denounced by survivors and their advocates, who believe it will allow schools to avoid dealing with cases of sexual misconduct.
Public comment opened Thursday and lasts for 60 days _ meaning you have until about the end of January to share your thoughts.
What are the changes?
Schools would only be required to respond if an official report was made to them or if multiple complaints about the same person were made to an official with authority to respond. (Under Obama, schools could be found in violation of their Title IX obligations for not responding to sexual misconduct if they knew or reasonably should have known about it.)
Schools also wouldn't have to respond to off-campus incidents and the definition of sexual harassment would be narrower.
Other controversial changes include allowing schools to use a higher standard of evidence and mediation for sexual-misconduct cases, as well as requiring cross-examination by advisers during hearings.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., ranking member of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee called on DeVos to withdraw the proposal at a Wednesday news conference in Washington, D.C.
"Secretary DeVos' proposed rule will return us to a time when sexual-assault survivors were ignored and felt like they had nowhere to turn," she said. "It is clear from this rule that Secretary DeVos did not listen."
Murray is also supporting calls to extend the public comment period.
Sexual assault survivors and advocates _ including a survivor of ex-gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar and a 14-year-old who said she was sexually assaulted by a peer _ joined Murray.
Jess Davidson, executive director of End Rape on Campus, said she went through the Title IX process in college. She said her perpetrator was found responsible, but not until after graduation. Because of how long her case took, she said she walked across the graduation stage the same day he did.
"While the system was really flawed for me, I was grateful that there was an alternative system I could turn to," Davidson said, explaining that she didn't want to go to law enforcement.
Davidson said she and other advocates have been working to improve the Title IX process for survivors, and that DeVos' changes would roll back that progress.
