WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden on Monday ordered his administration to review Trump rules regarding sexual assault on campus that would strengthen the rights of the accused and reduce the scope of cases that colleges should address.
In an executive order signed Monday morning, Biden instructed the Department of Education to review policies implemented by Donald Trump’s administration, including changes to Title IX regulations that prohibit sex discrimination in federally funded institutions.
Biden has instructed the agency to review all policies that are “inconsistent or may be” with the aim of preventing gender discrimination in education.
During his campaign, Biden focused on gender equality and promised to strengthen Title IX if he were to win the White House. He also signed a second executive order formally instituting the White House Gender Policy Council. Biden’s transition team has announced his plans to form the council before taking office.
The order directing the revision of Title IX could pave the way for a major shift in the way colleges handle allegations of sexual misconduct going forward.
Trump Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, in 2018 revoked an Obama-era government standard in cases of reported sexual assault to require a “balance of evidence” – meaning that sexual harassment or violence is likely to occur – to “clear and convincing evidence” . “
The DeVos changes have reduced the liability of colleges and universities for investigating claims of sexual misconduct and strengthened the defendants’ rights to due process., including the right to cross-examine their defendants through a third-party attorney during campus hearings.
Biden, as vice-president, together with the then education minister, Arne Duncan, set out the legal guidance in 2011 of what was expected of college campuses in response to allegations of sexual violence on behalf of the government of President Barack Obama.
According to the Department of Education, Biden’s intention is to draw up policies that help ensure students have an environment free from sexual harassment and without discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, according to one White House official who informed reporters of the orders.
The order to establish the Gender Policy Council comes after Trump disbanded an office specifically focused on women’s issues created during the Obama administration, called the White House Council for Women and Girls.
While the new council is a resurrection of the Obama era, one administration official has said it is a new name to recognize that inequalities can affect people of all genders. The official nevertheless said that the council would focus mainly on issues facing women and girls due to “excessive barriers” they face.
The new council has the task of helping push gender equality on the government’s domestic and foreign policy efforts. Some of the issues the council will focus on include tackling sexual harassment, tackling structural barriers to women’s participation in the workforce, reducing gender pay and wealth gaps, addressing issues that have excessively affected women. and response to gender-based violence.
The orders come because Biden plans to make remarks from the White House later Monday in celebration of International Women’s Day, a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.
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Binkley reports from Boston.