A politically diverse group in Congress has formed to root out sexual abuse by employees at universities. This bipartisan approach is needed when it comes to other Title IX policies, too.
Led by Michigan U.S. Reps. Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat, and Republicans Fred Upton and Lisa McClain, and Democratic Sens. Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow, the legislation would require universities to submit certification each year to the U.S. Department of Education that asserts the institution’s president and at least one member of the governing board have reviewed sexual abuse investigations reported to the Title IX coordinator involving a school employee.
Title IX forbids sexual discrimination at schools receiving federal money. The law has become broadly interpreted over the years so that now university officials have become de facto sexual assault prosecutors and juries. More on that later.
The Accountability of Leaders in Education to Report Title IX Investigations (ALERT) Act had been previously introduced, and it’s clearly important to Michigan lawmakers following the decades of abuse of female athletes by Michigan State University sports doctor Larry Nassar.
The fact Nassar was allowed to continue his job for so long, even as some staff were made aware of the abuse, brought to light huge holes in university accountability.
Lawmakers are right to demand more from these colleges that take federal dollars. Students should not have to fear abuse from their professors or other staff while they are getting their education. And if it happens, they deserve justice.
Such bipartisan solutions shouldn’t stop with this bill, however. Title IX provisions governing sexual misconduct investigations on campuses have become extremely politicized in the last decade, with federal guidance shifting with each administration.
President Joe Biden now seeks to unravel carefully made rules under the Trump administration and former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who brought back much-needed due process for accused students in these campus tribunals.
Biden claims the rules make campuses unsafe for female students and wants to return the 2011 guidance he oversaw during the Obama administration, which stripped basic constitutional rights from students facing accusations.
In March, Biden issued an executive order requiring the Education Department to review the current rules, which carry the force of law since DeVos’ team went through the formal rule-making process — taking years.
Undoing them and creating new ones could similarly take years.
All students deserve a fair hearing, which the new framework helps ensure. Plus, the constant back and forth of changing rules makes it difficult for universities to comply. It could cause confusion for students, too.
This would be a good time for Congress to step in and clarify what university responsibility is under Title IX. In cases of actual sexual assault, for instance, administrators should be turning investigations over to law enforcement rather than trying to facilitate justice on their own.
This editorial first appeared in The Detroit News on Monday. This commentary should be considered another point of view and not necessarily the opinion or editorial policy of The Dominion Post.
