In the latest attempt to step up pressure on Biden’s government to review regulations on schools’ sexual misconduct, the advocacy group Know Your IX on Monday released a 37-page report that suffers what students say they experienced after they filed the title IX complaints.
The report, based on testimonials from 107 students who reported sexual violence at their schools over the past decade, described how students left the university, felt suicidal and faced threats against the accused. Two students said their attackers hired a private investigator to track them down, while two others described the development of chronic nervous system disorders due to the strain of their assaults and the school investigations.
Know Your IX’s report highlights what advocates of victims’ rights see as urgent and long-standing problems with the treatment of victims of sexual assault on campuses. The group calls on the Department of Education to reverse changes to the title IX rules led by former Education Minister Betsy DeVos, giving accused students more protection. The group also demands that the Department of Education provide resources to alleviate the physical and financial toll experienced by students following a sexual assault.
“Surviving students need immediate action against Title IX. What to non-students seems like just a few months is a whole semester for a student,” said Sage Carson, manager of Know Your IX. “Survivors cannot spend another semester, let alone another four years, with the current status of Title IX regulation.”
President Joe Biden’s choice of Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, was just confirmed two weeks ago, and there has been a growing scramble of victims’ advocates, civil rights groups and Democratic members of Congress demanding the Trump administration’s title regulation needs to be reviewed quickly.
The regulation, issued under the Gender Equality Act, Title IX, stipulates how schools that require federal funding must handle cases of sexual misconduct involving 56 million K-12 students and 20 million university students. The rules, which DeVos called a distinctive performance of her tenure as secretary of education, give accused students more opportunities to defend themselves, limit how a school can investigate allegations of sexual assault and limit schools to only investigating incidents involving the school or as part of the a school activity.
Last week, Biden signed an executive order ordering Cardona to review the Title IX Regulation and investigate its rewriting. On the same day, a group of high school students from Berkeley, California, sued the federal government, demanding that a court annul several title IX amendments implemented by DeVos. And earlier this month, 115 members of Congress signed a letter to Cardona asking him to respond to lawsuits challenging the validity of the regulation by stopping the rule and issuing interim guidance while the government with a new process of governing process begins.
The Department of Education has not said what it intends to do with regard to Title IX, except as a leading civil rights nominee who said last week: ‘Over time, we will create opportunities for all who are interested in their views. to share ‘about sexual harassment policy. Cardona tweeted in response to the executive order: “It is my responsibility to ensure that educational institutions provide appropriate support to students to grow and thrive in a safe learning environment for them.”
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Any attempt to diminish the Trump administration’s changes is likely to resist defenders of accused students who say the new rules include the right to a cross-examination by a third party, and the ability for students to have all the evidence can see what has been compiled. and the suspicion of innocence at the beginning of an investigation – is essential protection through the process.
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a civil liberties group that has praised the Trump administration’s title IX approach, does not rule out the lawsuit to keep the existing regulation in place.
“We’ve had feedback from lawyers who do the work in those cases, that it differs day and night on campuses,” said Joe Cohn, the group’s legislative director. “These are reforms that were much needed nationwide.”
“We got feedback from lawyers who do the work in those cases, that it differs night and day on campuses.”
Joe Cohn, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
Know Your IX is not against enforcing certain aspects of the regulation, such as an impartial and ‘well-trained’ panel that makes decisions about whether a student violates a school’s sexual misconduct policy. The group also supports cross-examination conducted by third parties.
But Know Your IX also says that the Department of Education should take steps to prevent schools from punishing students who report sexual assault, that states should amend laws to prevent students from prosecuting libel for filing title IX complaints, and that schools should start releasing data annually on the outcomes of disciplinary cases regarding sexual misconduct by students – none of which has been addressed by the Trump administration.
On an almost universal basis, organizations representing K-12 and higher education schools opposed the rules advocated by DeVos, arguing in the statements to the government that it was too much prescribed, forcing their schools to act like courts. and “detached from reality” on campuses. Even former Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr., a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump, called DeVos’ framework a ‘terribly wrong notice and narrow view’.
Another criticism of the new rules is that it requires schools to use a legal definition of sexual harassment that is narrower than that used in workplace cases – and requires that the harassment be ‘serious and pervasive’ instead of ‘serious or penetrating’.
Experts believe that the narrower definition makes it more difficult for a school to act if harassment of a student persists, but it does not all come from the same person.
‘If you are a 15-year-old and every week someone else says something rude about your body as you walk through the halls, you will feel less safe at school, even if no one is responsible for the harassment. , ”Said Alexandra Brodsky, a lawyer at the non-profit firm Public Justice, which represents the Berkeley students.
In the lawsuit, the Women’s Student Union at Berkeley High School describes how students experienced harassment in Zoom “breakout rooms” in group chats and on social media, including classmates who spread sexual images of students. However, the new regulation restricts schools to investigating only sexual misconduct that allegedly takes place on campus or as part of a school activity. The students say it discourages them from reporting harassment to administrators if they are not sure if it counts under Title IX.
“It’s almost impossible to even draw a line,” said Ava, 17, a junior at Berkeley High School. She asked that only her first name be used to protect her privacy. “It’s not about the location, it’s about the impact it has on you.”
“It’s not about the location – it’s about the impact it has on you.”
Ava, junior at Berkeley High School
The regulation went into effect in August, while many students, including students in Berkeley, learned at a distance. Some Berkeley students have said it makes it difficult to know where to file a complaint.
“Two of my teachers do not know how to pronounce my name, and these are my two favorite teachers,” said Maize, 17, another junior in Berkeley. “Given that, I would not feel comfortable reporting at all.”
Lawyers advising schools on the title IX policy said the new regulation has become a particular problem in violent affairs appointments when students try to report problems that a friend is in an abusive relationship with, but the friend does not want to file a complaint. Research has found that most victims of violence never report abuse to authorities, often because they are embarrassed, unaware of their options or afraid of retaliation, but ‘the law does not consider it,’ says Scott Schneider. a partner at Husch Blackwell LLP, working with universities on Title IX policies and investigations. He believes that schools should be able to retain the option to open investigations, even if the potential victim does not want to lodge a formal complaint.
The rules also hold school administrators on what kind of evidence they can use, Schneider said. He said, for example, that colleges are supposed to disregard statements made by accused students or witnesses if they will not go to a trial and agree to do cross-examination.
“It feels really strange that the only places you have to go through this kind of ridiculous and Byzantine process are higher education institutions,” he added.
Schneider described one case at a college in which an accused student admitted in a meeting with school officials that he had abused a student, but because he refused to testify during the trial, the regulation provided that his confession did not should not be considered as evidence.
“It’s an insane result,” he said.