Correia & Puth’s Linda Correia tells Caitlin Schmidt of Arizona Daily Star that Betsy DeVos’s proposed Title IX regulations will inconsistent with the purpose of Title IX.
Ms. Correia, a Title IX attorney with more than two decades of experience, says the proposed changes elevate the interests of those accused of sexual misconduct over the rights of victims, undermining the purpose of Title IX.
Correia said that if the changes are approved, schools will very likely change their procedures to avoid future legal liability for Title IX incidents.
“That’s obviously going to make it harder for students who come forward and say they’ve been assaulted to prove they’ve been assaulted and to urge the schools to take either disciplinary step against the assailant or to help them deal with the consequences of that for themselves so that they can continue to complete their education at the school without having to be around the person that assaulted them,” she said.
The proposed changes would also abdicate schools from the responsibility to investigate alleged incidents that take place off campus. Under Title IX, schools have a responsibility to make sure the consequences of a sexual assault or harassment incident — regardless of where it happened — don’t derail the victim’s education.
“School by school, if they know that more than half of students live off campus, they can make these problems go away by ignoring events that happen off campus,” Correia said. “This is a green light to do that.”
Read the full article here and the Arizona Daily Star’s full five-part series on Title IX here.
