New Nine

The U.S. Dept. of Education has released revised Title 9 rules. It's not clear how much the rules will affect UC. Possibly, the cross-examination rule will have some effect.

From Inside Higher Ed:

...The regulation -- the first the federal government has issued on the matter -- was crafted to clarify requirements for colleges and to add due process protections for accused students. But women’s groups and advocates for survivors of sexual assault warn that it will undermine the rights of victims. And they say it will let colleges off the hook for not taking the issue of sexual misconduct seriously.

One of the rule's biggest changes from previous federal policy is that it would make institutions responsible only for investigating misconduct that occurred within a college's own programs. Advocates for victims had warned this would leave institutions off the hook for incidents that occurred off-campus but documents released by the department Friday emphasize that geography alone does not dictate whether misconduct falls under the purview of Title IX.

The proposed regulation also would allow colleges to set their own evidentiary standard for making findings of misconduct. And it would require that colleges allow for cross-examination of students in those campus proceedings -- a major point of contention -- although no interaction by the parties themselves would be allowed.

Although groups that represent accused students have welcomed many of the changes advanced by the Trump administration, the biggest beneficiaries of the rule may be colleges themselves. Some institutions, under pressure from campus activists, have said they will maintain standards introduced under the Obama administration. But the rule could significantly reduce the liability of colleges...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/11/16/proposed-federal-sexual-misconduct-rules-add-protections-accused-students-colleges