Buzzfeed News reported on Monday that our billionaire, bear-fearing, MRA-loving Education Secretary Betsy DeVos will probably unveil her long-awaited changes to Title IX policy enforcement at George Mason University this Thursday. Federal officials have been describing the event as “centered around equal opportunity and equal protection for all,” which, coming from this administration, is always a sign of something dismal that needs its transparent justification.
If all goes as plans, the announcement will surely not be good. DeVos has been hinting practically since she got her dismantling little hands on the education secretary position that she’d like to make changes “quickly” to Obama-era mandates regarding enforcement of Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded education programs. This now includes a 2011 requirement that such schools, “respond promptly and effectively to sexual violence against students.”
Candice Jackson, the head of the Education Department’s civil rights division, told organizers beyond closed doors last month that she wanted Obama’s 2011 Title IX directive to go through a “notice-and-commit” process, Buzzfeed News reported. According to Buzzfeed, “That would give the public the chance to submit comments to the department about the rules — in this case, how schools handle sexual assault cases — and let the department respond to their comments. It’s a slow process that gives proponents of the 2011 directive a chance to argue for keeping the rules in place, but ultimately, the department has the final say over the future of the regulations.”
In other miserable Education Department news, DeVos has yet to respond to the administration’s DACA decision. Standing up for young people not really her thing.
Correction: This article previously ran with the headline stating that Betsy DeVos will reportedly roll back Title IX. The report stated that DeVos planned to make an announcement, but definitely that Title IX would be rolled back. Jezebel regrets the error.