Thursday, October 5, 2017

Devos continues her controversial trail


Jennifer Abele
News Editor


On Sept. 7, Education Secretary Betsy Devos stated in Arlington, Virginia, that she would revise the sexual assault policies in the 2011 Guidance Letter focused on college campus, and create changes to prevent the accused from being mistreated.
 Betsy Devos has not yet stated when the revised policies will be released or what changes were on the drawing board.
 “With the heavy hand of Washington tipping the balance of her scale, the sad reality is that Lady Justice is not blind on campuses today,” Secretary Devos stated in her address to George Mason University.
 Devos also attempted to show remorse for the victims of sexual assault, but left antisexual assault advocates  in an uproar. She described current misconduct hearings as “kangaroo courts” due to the fact that jury and judge are combined. Forcing the victim to be re-traumatized due to the accused repeatedly filing appeals.  “This Administration  wants to take us back to the days when colleges swept sexual assaults under the rug,” stated Former Secretary of Education under Obama, Arne Duncan to the New York Times. “Instead of building on important work to pursue justice, they are once again choosing politics over students, and students will pay the price.”
 The National Women’s Law Center told the New York Times that revising these regulations was a “blunt attack on survivors of sexual assault...and it sends a frightening message to all students: Your government does not have your back if your rights are violated.”
 Devos stated she will be opening a public comment period before a government agency issues the new guidelines for campus sexual assaults. Devos will be targeting revisions in the 2011 guidance letter drafted during the Obama Administration which created a stricter structure to set guidelines for college campuses sexual assault accusations.  

 Devos reached out to the victims after making the claim that the accused are also victims. “One rape is too many,” Devos spoke out. “One assault is too many. One aggressive act of harassment is one too many.”