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Biden Order to Review Title IX 03/08 06:12
President Joe Biden is set to sign an executive order on Monday directing
the Department of Education to review policies implemented by Donald Trump's
administration, including changes to Title IX regulations that prohibit sex
discrimination in federally funded institutions, according to administration
officials.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Joe Biden is set to sign an executive order on
Monday directing the Department of Education to review policies implemented by
Donald Trump's administration, including changes to Title IX regulations that
prohibit sex discrimination in federally funded institutions, according to
administration officials.
Biden focused on gender equity during his campaign and promised to
strengthen Title IX if he won the White House. He also will sign a second
executive order formally establishing the White House Gender Policy Council,
according to two administration officials who briefed reporters on the plan.
Biden's transition team announced his plans to create the council before he
took office.
The order directing the review of Title IX could pave the way to a major
shift in how colleges handle allegations of sexual misconduct moving forward.
Trump's education secretary, Betsy DeVos, in 2018 rescinded an Obama-era
administration standard in cases of reported sexual assault from requiring a
"preponderance of evidence" --- meaning it is more likely than not that sexual
harassment or violence occurred --- to "clear and convincing evidence."
The DeVos changes reduced the liability of colleges and universities for
investigating sexual misconduct claims and bolstered the due process rights of
the accused, including the right to cross-examine their accusers through a
third-party advocate at campus hearings.
Biden, as vice president, along with then-Education Secretary Arne Duncan in
2011 laid out the legal guidance of what was expected of college campuses in
response to allegations of sexual violence on behalf of President Barack
Obama's administration.
With the Education Department review, Biden's intent is to set policies that
help ensure students have an environment that's free from sexual harassment and
without discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity,
according to one White House official who briefed reporters on the orders.
The order establishing the Gender Policy Council comes after Trump disbanded
an office specifically focused on women's issues created during the Obama
administration that was called the White House Council on Women and Girls.
While the new council is a resurrection of the Obama-era one, one
administration official said that giving it a new name was acknowledgement that
inequities can affect people of all genders. Still, the official said the
council will primarily focus on issues facing women and girls because of
"disproportionate barriers" they face.
The new council is tasked with helping push gender equity on the
administration's domestic and foreign policy efforts. Some of the issues the
council will focus on include combating sexual harassment, addressing
structural barriers to women's participation in the workforce, decreasing
gender wage and wealth gaps, addressing caregiving issues that have
disproportionately impacted women and responding to gender-based violence.
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