Last fall, as students around the country were adjusting to the beginning of a school year in the midst of a pandemic, something else changed too: the rules for K-12 schools, colleges, and universities handling reports of sexual harassment and assault.
A new Trump administration regulation that went into effect last August raised the bar for what constitutes sexual harassment, allowed students who report harassment or assault to be directly cross-examined, and allowed schools to use a standard of evidence that many saw as more favorable to the accused. At the time, survivors and their advocates were deeply concerned that the new rules would discourage survivors from reporting and make it easier for schools to let harassment and assault slide.
Now President Biden has taken his first step toward reversing the rule, signing an executive order on Monday directing the Department of Education to review the issue. “It is the policy of my Administration that all students should be guaranteed an educational environment free from discrimination on the basis of sex, including discrimination in the form of sexual harassment, which encompasses sexual violence,” the order, signed on International Women’s Day, states.
But reviewing and reversing the Trump administration rule could take months or even years. And in the meantime, advocates say the rule has already harmed survivors at schools across the country. For example, many are now barred from filing a formal complaint because they experienced harassment off campus, because their harasser has graduated, or because what they experienced does not meet the new, stricter standards set forth by the Trump CONTINUE READING: Biden executive order is first step to reverse Betsy DeVos’s sexual assault rules - Vox