Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is being sued for the pro-campus-rape, or at least pro-rapist, rules she instituted last fall, replacing Obama administration guidelines for applying the anti-discrimination Title IX to campus rape investigations. The victims’ rights and women’s rights groups suing DeVos say the changes are already having an effect:
In the complaint, SurvJustice said that the group had not only seen “a decrease in the number of sexual violence survivors seeking its services,” but also observed a trend in educational institutions not responding at all, or not responding as promptly to its clients’ complaints.
The group also wrote of “students who have questioned whether they should continue with their plans to report sexual violence given the uncertainty regarding their legal protections and an anticipated lowered likelihood of success created by the policy change.”
The Victims Rights Law Center, which focuses its efforts on rape and sexual assault, said Ms. DeVos’s guidance was “devastating” to its mission and operational activities.
SurvJustice, along with the Victim Rights Law Center and Equal Rights Advocates, wants DeVos’s guidance to be declared unlawful.