Trump Administration Wants To Protect Sexual Predators on Campus

In a time when women are stepping up and speaking out, our Education Secretary Betsy DeVos just proposed to “protect” students accused of sexual misconduct while undermining victims’ rights. Seriously? One step forward, two steps backwards.

DeVos just released a proposal to add due process protections for accused students. Rather than stepping up protections for victims of sexual assault or misconduct, she is pushing policy that better protects the accused sexual predator.  Remember Brock Turner?  He’s the Stanford student who was convicted of 3 counts of felony sexual assault back in 2016.  Because the court believed that a harsh prison sentence would “ruin his life,” he got off with just 3 months of jail time.  When did we start worrying more about the perpetrators than the victims? 

This proposal also requires that colleges be responsible for investigating misconduct that occurs within the colleges’ own programs and not in off-campus college activities or events. If a victim confides in a person who is not the “proper official on campus,” the college will not be responsible for investigating the case.  Wow! The colleges will be allowed to set their own evidentiary standard for discovering these findings, and what’s worse, they could cross examine victims – the reason so many victims of assault don’t speak out against their perpetrators in the first place.

So colleges have less responsibility to protect and investigate their students, and victims will face scrutiny for standing up for their rights. Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said Devos and President Trump were “trying to take another step toward sweeping the scourge of sexual assault under the rug.”

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