Betsy Devos just released the new Title IX rules and guidelines. As we all know, the Secretary doesn't have students and survivors in mind - she cares more about institutions and their bottom lines. She wants to reduce reporting, save schools money, and let schools off the hook for covering up/ignoring sexual violence.

Here are a few things the new rule does:
- the 60-day timeline will be lifted, meaning schools can lawfully extend investigations and draw them out for months or even years
- schools can now use unregulated and informal resolution processes, like mediation, rather than investigating
- violence that occurs in off-campus housing, frat houses, or study abroad programs will NOT be considered the schools' responsibility
the rule allows schools to ignore the violence that happens off-campus or online, even if the survivor is forced to see their perpetrator every day at school
- DeVos's ridiculously high standard of harassment makes schools no longer obligated to investigate cases that do not meet the heightened requirements
students will have to endure repeated and escalating levels of abuse in order to meet these new requirements to ask their school for help
- allows schools to submit for religious exemption even AFTER a complaint is made, meaning they can claim exemption from preventing discrimination
students will no longer be able to file a report if they don't attend school with their perpetrator
- cross-examination is required, so now a survivor can be directly questioned by their perpetrator's representative

THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE! It sucks, but it is important to note that student activists made Title IX what it is (or was before this morning) and we can do so again! We are calling on AU to implement less harmful policies - policies that are more survivor-centric, let the students know how they will go about Title IX cases going forward, and actually use their position of power as an institution in D.C. (whose President used to be involved in politics, holding a position in the White House) to advocate for the Department of Education to change the policy recently proposed.