Federal campus sexual assault guidelines are getting a makeover. 

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos made the announcement Thursday. She will revisit the policy handed to colleges in 2011 by the Obama administration. She wants to serve all students better. Including those accused of sexual assault. 

“We must do better because the current approach isn’t working,” DeVos said Thursday. She spoke at George Mason University. 

Policy

In 2011, the Obama administration sent colleges a “Dear Colleague” letter. The letter outlined new guidelines for dealing with sexual assault on campus under Title IX. The amendment to the Civil Rights Act protects students from sex-based discrimination.

Currently, colleges must conduct their own investigation whenever there is an accusation. Accused students can be forced to change class schedules. They can also be banned from campus during investigations. Colleges are to determine guilt by the preponderance of evidence standard. (In the letter’s words, “i.e., it is more likely than not that sexual harassment or violence occurred.”)

The letter threatened to pull federal funding from non-compliant colleges.

The letter cites concerns over the high rates of sexual assault in college. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, one in five women is sexually assaulted in college. For men, it’s one in 16. “The Department … is committed to ensuring that all students feel safe in their school,” the letter states. But the result has been messy. Often, the policy has led to unjust punishment and mistreatment of both male and female students. 

Problems

On Wednesday The Atlantic took a deep dive into the guidelines and the fallout. The article exposed some of the worst injustices caused by the “Dear Colleague” letter. 

“Groups of professors at Harvard Law School and the University of Pennsylvania Law School have each released open letters expressing their concern that OCR has undermined due process and justice,” Emily Yoffe writes. OCR stands for Office for Civil Rights.

In the past, many victims of sexual assault were doubted or ignored. But the opposite problem is now occurring, Yoffe goes on to note. Now college administrators often doubt or belittle women who insist they are not victims.

Stream contributor Alex Chediak also examined the problems last month. He reported that one advocacy group is tracking 170 lawsuits against universities. In them, students claim their colleges mishandled a sexual assault investigation. 

Chediak cites a troubling study by a UCLA professor. The study finds that an innocent student has a one in three chance of being found guilty of campus sexual assault.

“Don’t we cherish the principle of ‘innocent until proven guilty’?” Chediak writes. “It makes guilty verdicts all the more meaningful.”

Pushback

Many administrators are vowing not to change these policies, Yoffe writes.

Last summer 20 state attorneys general asked DeVos to keep the existing policy.

On Thursday, many used the trending #StopBetsy Twitter hashtag to criticize DeVos. The official Women’s March account claimed she “made campuses safer for rapists.” Writer Nick Jack Pappas tweeted the Trump administration was “siding with rapists.”

The Washington Post quoted Fatima Goss Graves. DeVos’ announcement “sends a frightening message … your government does not have your back if your rights are violated,” she said. Graves is the CEO of the National Women’s Law Center.

In her speech, DeVos claimed she wants improvement for all students. 

“Every survivor of sexual misconduct must be taken seriously,” she said. “Every student accused of sexual misconduct must know that guilt is not predetermined. These are non-negotiable principles.”

DeVos announced she will receive public comments on how to best revise the 2011 guidelines.