Betsy Devos: Person of the Week

Claim to Fame: U.S. Secretary of Education

Why She's the Person of the Week: for crafting new policies on how colleges deal with sexual harassment and assault cases that would boost protections for those accused. After the Obama administration set went too far in seeking to protect college students claiming they were sexually assaulted, “completely eroding” the due process rights of the accused, DeVos seeks to solve the problem and get back to a balanced playing field:

Under Obama-era Title IX rules, there was a sharp rise in men who say they were unfairly accused of sexual assault on college campuses thanks to a lower standard of evidence for finding guilt as “more likely than not,” but both the accused and accusers have complained about shoddy investigations and biased tribunals. 

The Title IX law, enacted in 1972, forbids discrimination based on sex in education. It was once seen as a measure to ensure equity in college sports, but after President Barack Obama decried the “rape crisis” on our nation’s campuses, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued several “Dear Colleague” letters starting in 2011, directing college administrations to tackle the issue – and prove on paper they were doing so – or risk losing their federal funding. 

The Trump Administration is set to release their new Title IX regulations on campus sexual misconduct this month, in time for the new semester, and is expected to roll back many of the Obama-era crackdowns that burdened colleges and universities and unfairly punished many accused, according to a preliminary draft obtained by The New York Times.

It was back in Fall 2017 that Devos called for replacing Obama-era rules for investigating allegations of sexual violence on campus that “failed too many students” with a more “workable, effective, and fair system.”

“Every survivor of sexual misconduct must be taken seriously. Every student accused of sexual misconduct must know that guilt is not predetermined. These are non-negotiable principles,” DeVos said. “Due process either protects everyone, or it protects no one. The notion that a school must diminish due process rights to better serve the ‘victim’ only creates more victims.”