Betsy DeVos is dealing a huge blow to campus rape victims

The education secretary is utterly wrong about how universities should handle assault allegations

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

On Friday, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos unveiled a plan to roll back Title IX protections in higher education for victims of sexual assault and harassment. Arguing that "if everything is harassment, nothing is," DeVos promised to change Obama-era regulations designed to put accusers and the accused on equal footing in disciplinary proceedings.

That Title IX is one of the first major issues in education that the DeVos regime chose to tackle is revealing. The coming assault on protections for rape victims as an early priority is very much in keeping with this administration's broad circle of abusers and apologists for violence against women, starting at the very top. They have all bought into the absurd lie that American society in general, and colleges in particular, treat accused rapists too harshly. And now they are about to dismantle protections for victims at the very institutions that have made the most progress in combating rape.

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David Faris

David Faris is an associate professor of political science at Roosevelt University and the author of It's Time to Fight Dirty: How Democrats Can Build a Lasting Majority in American Politics. He is a frequent contributor to Informed Comment, and his work has appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times, The Christian Science Monitor, and Indy Week.