Title IX University Rules: Back to the Future

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During the Obama years, university administrators, more or less, happily followed the Title IX guidance from the U. S. Department of Education, no matter how much it made sexual harassment suspects guilty until proven innocent.

When the Trump Administration suggested something more constitutional, the universities decided to ignore them and go with the previous advice. “Many schools will continue using a preponderance of evidence standard when investigating Title IX complaints despite the U.S. Department of Education rescinding the guidance last year, according to a recent survey,” Stephanie Francis Ward writes in the ABA Journal. “The survey, conducted by the communications consultancy APCO Worldwide, had 100 respondents, according to a news release.”

“Harlan Teller, a Chicago-based executive director at APCO, said the total number of respondents were evenly split between university general counsels and chief communications officers. More than three-fourths of respondents—77 percent—indicated they had no plans to change internal policy regarding sexual abuse and harassment, and 64 percent indicated they won’t respond to U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ request for input regarding new Title IX guidance, which would replace the 2011 ‘Dear Colleague’ letter from the department’s Office of Civil Rights and that was established during the Obama administration.”