Public Justice Responds to Sec. DeVos’s Rollback of Title IX Protections
UPDATES 9/25:
- An open letter to Secretary Betsy DeVos responding to last week’s changes, signed by Public Justice alongside 78 other organizations that advocate for sexual assault survivors
- Fact checking the 2017 Interim Guidance on Sexual Violence
Earlier today, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced dramatic changes to guidance previously sent to schools for responding to, and investigating, sexual assaults and Title IX violations.
Public Justice Senior Attorney Adele Kimmel, who represents sexual assault survivors and their families, issued the following statement regarding DeVos’s announcement:
“The Department of Education’s interim guidance shows that the Trump Administration is more interested in protecting the small group of students who claim they were falsely accused of sexual assault than the thousands of students sexually assaulted each year. If the Department truly cared about students’ civil rights, it would not rescind the 2011 guidance, it would enforce it. The 2011 guidance rescinded today was requested by schools and was working well when implemented correctly. It required schools to treat all parties in a campus sexual assault investigation fairly. The new interim guidance instead favors the rights of accused students. This is a dangerous step backwards that will have very real, and serious, consequences for the students Secretary DeVos and her agency are charged to protect.”
Stay tuned for more information regarding Public Justice’s ongoing work on behalf of sexual assault survivors, and our analysis of, and response to, DeVos’s announcement.Â
