Betsy DeVos Officially Rescinds The Obama-Era Policy On Investigating Campus Sexual Assault

Earlier this month, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced that she planned to revamp the Obama-era guidelines that dictated how universities and colleges investigated sexual assault on campuses. Her stated reason for doing so was to protect due process rights for the accused, and this was seen by some as a sign that the Department Of Education would silence victims and give credence to “men’s rights activists.”

Since these things can be figured out later, DeVos has decided to get rid of the rules before revamping them. Further, she will let schools decide what they want to do based on a Q&A form. Here’s the plan:

“Schools must continue to confront these horrific crimes and behaviors head-on,” she said in a statement Friday. “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.”

Devos released a temporary Q&A to guide schools on investigating assaults under the Title IX law, which prevents sexual-based discrimination in higher education. It will allow them to choose which set of standards they want to use when probing an assault.

Since DeVos announced she planned to do this earlier in September, opponents of the move aren’t surprised, but nonetheless, they are still slamming the decision.

“This decision proves that everything DeVos and the Department of Ed said about soliciting comments on the guidance was a SHAM,” the National Women’s Law Center tweeted. “DeVos ignored hundreds of thousands of people urging her to keep the guidance, siding with a tiny group of extremists who are against it.”

(Via New York Daily News)