President Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order Monday directing the Department of Education to review policies implemented by Donald Trump’s administration that weakened the ability of federally funded colleges and universities to address sexual assault accusations on campus.
Following through on a campaign promise, Biden’s order includes changes that seek to strengthen Title IX regulations that prohibit sex discrimination at institutions that receive federal dollars, according to administration officials.
A second executive order will formally establish the White House Gender Policy Council, a new initiative that Biden vowed to create after winning the 2020 election.
The Education Department review of Title IX could bring a major shift in how colleges handle allegations of sexual misconduct.
In 2018, Trump’s education secretary, Betsy DeVos, rescinded an Obama-era legal standard that required a “preponderance of evidence” be shown in cases of reported sexual assault, meaning it would be more likely than not that sexual harassment or violence had occurred. Under Trump, however, that language was changed to “clear and convincing evidence,” which reduced the liability of colleges and universities investigating sexual misconduct claims.
The changes by DeVos also shored up the due process rights of the accused, including the right to cross-examine their accusers through a third-party advocate at campus hearings.
Since 2011, Biden has played a central role in crafting Title IX.
Biden, who served as vice president during Barack Obama’s administration, worked closely with Education Secretary Arne Duncan in putting forth legal guidance that raised expectations for colleges responding to allegations of sexual violence.
Now 10 years later, Biden intends to set policies that help ensure students have an environment that’s free from sexual harassment and without discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, according to one White House official who briefed reporters on the orders.
The order establishing the Gender Policy Council comes after Trump disbanded an office specifically focused on women’s issues created during the Obama administration that was called the White House Council on Women and Girls.
While the new council is a resurrection of the Obama-era one, one administration official said that giving it a new name was acknowledgment that inequities can affect people of all genders. Still, the official said the council will primarily focus on issues facing women and girls because of “disproportionate barriers” they face.
The new council is tasked with helping push gender equity on the administration’s domestic and foreign policy efforts. Some of the issues the council will focus on include combating sexual harassment, addressing structural barriers to women’s participation in the workforce, decreasing gender wage and wealth gaps, addressing caregiving issues that have disproportionately impacted women and responding to gender-based violence.
The orders come as Biden plans to deliver remarks from the White House later Monday marking International Women’s Day, a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.
Information provided by The Associated Press was used to supplement this report.
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