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Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Stick with due process on IX

Inside Higher Ed yesterday carried a piece about possible changes (again) regarding Title IX with regard to sexual harassment and assault:

President Biden on Monday ordered Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to re-examine his predecessor Betsy DeVos’s controversial rule strengthening the rights of those accused of sexual harassment or assault on the nation's campuses. And, raising the hopes of the rule's critics, Biden said in his order that Cardona should consider “suspending, revising, or rescinding” it. To mark International Women’s Day, Biden signed an executive order spelling out that it’s his administration’s policy “that all students should be guaranteed an educational environment free from discrimination on the basis of sex.” And discrimination, he said, includes sexual harassment and violence, as well as discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The order directed Cardona to review within 100 days the Education Department’s regulations and policies to make sure they comply with the antidiscrimination policy. Biden specifically mentioned the department’s policy on Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/03/09/president-biden-tells-education-department-examine-title-ix-rules

As we have noted many times in prior postings, when Title IX cases get into the court system, judges look for due process. They did so before the Trump changes and will do so with whatever the Biden administration comes up. UC needs to keep the focus on providing due process. We have also noted that for union-represented employees, UC has grievance systems that have long met external court criteria featuring, as final steps when mutual agreement cannot be found, hearings that are less formal than courts and decisions by outside neutrals. There are lessons to be learned from such long-existing systems.

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