Washington- The Biden Thursday’s administration proposes new rules governing how schools must respond to sexism, narrows the scope of investigations into campus sexual misconduct, and puts transgender student rights into law. Rolled back a major part of the Trump administration’s policy to consolidate.
Suggestions review a wide range of rules Final decision under former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVosThis was the first time colleges and schools from kindergarten to high school codified how to investigate sexual assault on campus. The proposal also addresses discrimination under Title IX, a federal law signed today 50 years ago, and prohibits the exclusion or refusal of gender-based educational interests in federal-funded programs.
The Trump administration’s rules, issued in 2020, narrowed the definition of sexual harassment, extended the right to due process for students accused of harassment and assault, exempted schools from legal liability, and “live hearing” schools. Requested a court-like procedure called. It allowed the parties to cross-examine. DeVos’s rules did not define “gender harassment” in their own right, and the administration took the position that Title IX did not extend to gender identity.
The Biden administration argued that the current rules “weakened the protection of survivors of sexual assault and weakened the promise of non-discriminatory education.”
“The changes we propose will completely protect students from all forms of sexism,” Secretary of Education Miguel A. Cardona said in a statement Thursday morning, “clarifying these. Protection includes discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. ” .. “
This proposal caused clashes with state and federal lawmakers, Position of department issued last yearThat transgender student was protected under federal law.
The proposed Biden rule will require a long public comment period before it comes into force and will revise some important provisions related to the investigation of sexual assault.
Biden’s rules expand the definition of what constitutes sexual harassment and expand the types of episodes that schools are required to investigate, such as cases reported outside of educational programs. The rules also make live hearings optional and no longer mandatory, allowing schools to adopt a process of establishing the credibility of parties and witnesses, but it does not require cross-examination.
However, one of the major changes to the Biden rule includes gender harassment, including “stereotype, sexual characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, gender identity,” according to the proposed rule. That is.
The department will issue other rules regarding how Title IX applies to athletics, such as how schools determine student eligibility. Male or female athletic team.
This issue sparked a cultural war last year as Republican-controlled legislatures in at least 18 states introduced restrictions on transgender participation in sports in public schools. At least a dozen The state has passed the law with some restrictions.
“This department recognizes that the standards for students participating in men’s and women’s athletic teams are evolving in real time,” said Dr. Cardona. “Therefore, we decided to create individual rules on how schools would determine eligibility while maintaining the Title IX indiscriminate guarantee.”
“I politicize these protections and firmly refuse to try to divide our school,” he added.
