CHICAGO (NewsNation) — The Biden administration’s proposals for new Title IX regulations last week have met with some criticism, as they include changes to the way colleges investigate sexual assault, doubling down and extending the measures in place under the Obama administration.
One American journalist who has been investigating the changes told NewsNation’s “On Balance with Leland Vittert” on Tuesday that both Obama and Biden are off the mark when it comes to Title IX.
“The Obama administration made it seem as if every young woman is in danger from her male classmates, and expanded the definition of sexual misconduct to virtually cover anything,” Emily Yoffe said.
Under the Obama administration rules, the accused were not able to confront the accuser, and often weren’t allowed to know the nature of the accusation. Furthermore, Obama’s regulations required schools to use preponderance of evidence vs. clear and convincing evidence and subjected students to proceedings on campus.
President Donald Trump rolled back all of the Obama-era appeals, but now, Biden says he’s going farther to reinstate them.
Yoffe explains that these stipulations are problematic and unbalanced because it then forces the accused to find a means to get a lawyer to bring a civil suit to defend themselves and, even then, Yoffee said, judges saw the harshness of the conditions.
“Hundreds of judges have been appalled at what’s been going on … One judge said this proceeding looks more like Salem 1692 than Boston 2015,” she said.
Yoffe says judges will have a similar reaction to Biden’s reform proposal, which suggest a single investigator weigh the evidence and come up with a conclusion.
“This model was found by many judges to completely violate due process rights of the accused and the ability of the accused to mount their own defense,” she said.