Schools and universities responding to complaints of sexual misconduct must return to policies created during President Trump’s first term, with requirements for live hearings and more protections for accused students, according to new guidance issued Friday by the Education Department. The agency told education institutions across the nation that Title IX, a 1972 law barring discrimination based on sex, will be enforced according to a set of rules created by former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, the Associated Press reports. The rules govern how complaints of misconduct are investigated and how to settle cases where students present differing accounts.
Colleges already have been returning to DeVos’ 2020 rules since a federal judge in Kentucky overturned the Biden administration’s Title IX rules. The court’s decision effectively ordered a return to the earlier Trump administration rules. The Education Department called Biden’s rules an “egregious slight to women and girls.”
“Under the Trump Administration, the Education Department will champion equal opportunity for all Americans, including women and girls, by protecting their right to safe and separate facilities and activities in schools, colleges and universities,” said Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor. The Biden administration sought to overhaul the rules and expand Title IX to protect LGBTQ+ students. It expanded the type of behavior that’s considered sexual harassment — a reversal of the DeVos policy, which used a narrower definition.