Ed Dept expects to issue Title IX proposal in April 2022, displeasing advocates

Higher Ed Dive 

Jereny Bauer-Wolf

December 13, 2021

Dive Brief:

• The U.S. Department of Education said Friday it expects to release in April its proposed regulation governing Title IX, the federal law banning sex discrimination and violence in educational settings.

• This means the department plans on issuing the draft version of the rule a month earlier than initially anticipated. The final iteration will dictate policies for how colleges must investigate and potentially punish reports of sexual misconduct.

• However, the adjusted timeline did not please some advocates for sexual assault survivors, who had demanded the Biden administration unveil its proposal even earlier. A coalition of six groups wanted it by October of this year.

Dive Insight:

The regulatory proposal is set to fulfill one of President Joe Biden’s key campaign pledges for higher education: to replace the Title IX rule devised by former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

DeVos’ rule, which took effect in August 2020, was panned by survivor advocates, who argued it dissuaded victims from reporting and gave license to colleges to disregard episodes of sexual violence.

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