The Department of Education just released new Title IX regulations that formalize, for the first time, the obligation of schools to investigate claims
Hey Friend,
The Department of Education just released new Title IX regulations that formalize, for the first time, the obligation of schools to investigate claims of sexual assault and harassment.
The regulations, which carry the force of law, are long overdue.
Colleges and universities used to show little interest in dealing with campus sexual misconduct. Today, the pendulum has swung too far in the opposite direction.
Many campuses now maintain massive sexual misconduct bureaucracies that investigate and discipline all manner of sex-related behavior—from sexually-suggestive jokes to drunken couplings to forcible rape.
These extra-judicial bureaucracies often eliminate the presumption of innocence and stack the deck against accused students, denying them basic due process.
Unfair administrative procedures don’t just hurt the accused. They also harm survivors by undermining the legitimacy of the system and putting a college’s findings at risk of reversal.
The new rules protect survivors by making college disciplinary decisions more likely to withstand legal scrutiny and by emphasizing the need for supportive measures for victims—even for those who choose not to file a formal complaint.
Only by addressing claims of sexual misconduct and providing due process can colleges begin to restore faith in the system.
Independent Women’s Law Center will never stop fighting for fair and unbiased procedures. But to do so, we need your support.
Because without due process, there can be no justice.
Thank you,
Jennifer C. Braceras
Director, Independent Women’s Law Center
To learn more about these new regulations and what they mean for universities and for students, join me on Friday for a Facebook Live event with Independent Women’s Forum’s Inez Stepman and attorney Samantha Harris from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.
