Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s contentious regulations on sexual misconduct at schools will cement domestic and dating violence and stalking as forms of gender discrimination.
WASHINGTON — Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s pending rules on sexual misconduct at the nation’s schools and colleges will include provisions to shore up protections for victims of stalking and dating violence, a response to lethal attacks that have underscored the weakness of current policies.
The rules will for the first time cement domestic violence, dating violence and stalking as forms of gender discrimination that schools must address under Title IX, the federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in education programs that receive government funding.
In the past, the Education Department has issued guidance on how schools should handle sexual misconduct on campus and interpreted Title IX to require universities to combat sexual assault in particular. The department’s new rules would go further, adding definitions for domestic violence, dating violence and stalking as misconduct that universities must tackle or risk federal investigations and a loss of funding.