A piece for the Washington Post explores the new rules being prepared by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos that the Education Department plans to formally propose in September. These new rules will include procedural changes that will strengthen protections for students accused of sexual assault and subsequently lighten the burden placed on schools and universities.

The rules are intended to narrow the definition of sexual assault in an effort to limit the number of cases schools are required to adjudicate to those that occur on campus grounds. The new rules are designed to replace the 2011 Obama-administration guidelines that were intended to bolster protections for victims of sexual assault or abuse. Secretary DeVos revoked the 2011 guidelines in 2017.

These changes come in response to calls for an overhaul of the sexual-harassment adjudication process in the wake of a growing number of mishandled and extremely costly investigations on campuses.

Read the article here.