Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is working on a set of policies that only require colleges to investigate incidents that happen on campus or within their programs, not those that occur at unrelated, off-campus events, The New York Times reported on Wednesday. The policies would also strengthen the rights afforded to students accused of sexual assault or harassment. 

The New York Times said it obtained the proposed rules, which also would let schools choose whether they’ll offer appeals as an option for disciplinary cases involving sexual misconduct.

Some of the proposed rules, according to the Times, include the following changes:

  • Colleges would have leeway in choosing which legal standard to adopt when deciding whether someone has committed sexual misconduct. The two standards are “preponderance of the evidence,” which is a less-stringent guideline, and “clear and convincing evidence,” which is a higher standard that DeVos has supported.
  • The level to which colleges are held accountable for responding to formal misconduct complaints would be lowered. Complaints would have to be filed through “official institutional channels,” or “allegations of which officials have ‘actual knowledge.’” Residential advisers wouldn’t be part of the mandatory reporting process.
  • If the guidelines go into effect, the definition of sexual harassment would be narrower than the previous administration’s. Sexual harassment would be refined to encompass “unwelcome conduct on the basis of sex that is so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it denies a person access to the school’s education program or activity.”
  • Colleges wouldn’t be responsible for handling allegations of incidents that occurred outside campus, including off-campus student apartments.
  • Sexual-misconduct victims and those accused would have the ability to request evidence from each other for cross-examination, which the Obama administration said could retraumatize victims.

Candice Jackson, the Education Department’s top civil rights official, told the Times in 2017 that accused students and victims have not received fairly balanced investigative processes. Jackson said 90 percent of accusations can be categorized as “’we were both drunk.’” Students have received the label of rapist, even when “’the facts just don’t back that up,’” she told the Times.

Education is the best way to deal with the constant changes of Title IX.  The solution is to be compassionate, to take every allegation seriously and to put every allegation through a fair process that’s maximally designed to find the truth.