The U.S. Department of Education on Wednesday announced sweeping changes in how colleges must handle sexual-assault and sexual-harassment complaints, bolstering protections for accused students and employees.
The long-awaited changes in the enforcement of Title IX, the federal gender-equity law, will require colleges to hold live hearings and allow cross-examination when adjudicating sexual-misconduct complaints. The new regulations also will narrow the scope of complaints that colleges are required to investigate. In other words, according to the federal government, Title IX covers only sexual harassment that meets its new definition: “unwelcome conduct” that is “so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access to education.”
The changes (summarized here and here) will take effect on August 14.
College officials have been anticipating the new rules for more than a year. Many fear that the mandates are too burdensome and could dissuade sexual-assault victims from coming forward. Victim advocates worry that less oversight from the federal government could squander campuses’ progress in curbing sexual violence. But due-process supporters, who say Obama-era federal guidelines unfairly railroaded accused students, hailed the new rules when they were proposed, in 2018.