Education Department Begins Sweeping Rewrite of Title IX Sexual Misconduct Rules

Article here. Excerpt:

'The Education Department began a long slog Monday to rewrite Title IX campus sexual misconduct rules with a week-long hearing that stands to dismantle the Trump administration's regulating on the landmark sex discrimination civil rights law and to potentially expand its scope.

"Students deserve to feel safe from sex discrimination in all learning environments," Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement Monday. "These Title IX hearings are an important step in the right direction and an opportunity for us to get your input on this important topic."

President Joe Biden campaigned on overturning the Title IX rule finalized under the Trump administration last year – a rule that raised the bar of proof for sexual assault and misconduct, released schools from investigating incidents that occur off campus and bolstered the rights of those accused.

The rule, which sought to counter an Obama-era directive that pressured schools to lower the bar of proof, triggered outcry from Democrats, civil rights groups and others working on issues of campus assault who said that the Title IX rule from former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos would catapult students and schools back to a time when sexual assault was regularly swept under the rug. The majority of the 124,000 public comments submitted when DeVos first proposed the Title IX rule were in opposition to the measure, and once finalized it sparked dozens of lawsuits, including one involving 17 states and the District of Columbia.'