On college campuses, men file an equal number of sexual misconduct reports as women. That is where the equality ends, as men are more likely to be denied due process, and more likely to be found guilty of sexual misconduct and disciplined by a university.

A newly developed website dedicated to seeking due process for all, Title IX for All, helps students through the process of filing a report and tracks the number of filed sexual misconduct cases, Currently at 643, this number  increases daily.

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In response to the need for guidance for campus administrators on how to navigate the barrage of accusations, President Obama issued a series of letters to administrators, referred to today as Dear Colleague letters. The first letter, issued in 2011, compelled institutions to adopt the lowest standard of evidence in deciding whether they should expel students accused of sexual misconduct. The letters had no real teeth, and for the most part, were taken as suggestions by campus administrators.

Once President Trump appointed Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education, she began to work on a set of definitive guidelines with the underlying purpose of providing justice for both men and women. On May 6, 2020, the Department of Education issued new hard-hitting, no-nonsense guidelines to strengthen Title IX protections. The new policy assured all students the right to pursue an education free from sex discrimination. Due process would be granted every person male as well as female. Unlike the Dear Colleague letters, the new Title IX regulations carry with them the full force of the law. The historic guidelines affirm the necessity of due process in campus proceedings to ensure all students can pursue an education free from sex discrimination, allowing them to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. This concept is not only a part of America’s criminal code, but also a part of the UN’s Universal Code of Human Rights.  

Secretary DeVos said, “This new regulation requires schools to act in meaningful ways to support survivors of sexual misconduct, without sacrificing important safeguards to ensure a fair and transparent process. We must fight sexual misconduct in our nation’s schools, and this rule makes certain that fight continues.”

For those of us who are not from Washington, DC, the land where an alphabet of letters designates every office, Title IX deals with equal rights in education. Title IX directly relates to the Civil Rights Act passed in 1964, an act that prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in the areas of employment and public accommodations. Excluded in this original act was sex discrimination against persons employed in educational institutions. As a result of a barrage of cases where women were denied promotions and tenure at universities, there was a need for a law to address sex discrimination in any institution of learning that received federal money. Title IX was written to address that gap and became law on June 23, 1972. If a school that received federal money was found to be guilty of sex discrimination, the government could deny the offending school federal money.

Within the Department of Education is the Office for Civil Rights, where Title IX cases land on the desk of Assistant Secretary Kenneth L. Marcus. Mr. Marcus added, “The new Title IX regulation is a game-changer. It establishes that schools and colleges must take sexual harassment seriously while also ensuring a fair process for everyone involved. It marks the end of the false dichotomy of either protecting survivors, while ignoring due process, or protecting the accused while disregarding sexual misconduct. There is no reason why educators cannot protect all of their students – and under this regulation, there will be no excuses for failing to do so…..we will hold institutions accountable under federal civil rights laws. This regulation provides important new tools that will strengthen our ability to do so.”

You can view an extensive list of the key provisions in the Department of Education’s new Title IX regulations at Secretary DeVos Takes Historic Action.

Progressives have come out in force to oppose the new regulations. The NEA has never issued a press release that expressed any favor toward President Trump nor his Cabinet appointee for the office of Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. Their last press release on Title IX was no exception as they quickly dispersed a scathing press release aimed to discredit both Secretary DeVos and President Trump. The title of the press release says it all: NEA President: Final Title IX rule is shocking, offensive, and defies logic.

NEA President Miguel Gonzalez unduly criticized the ruling for (1) issuing the new guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic, (2) sacrificing student safety, (3) burdening schools with extra work the new rules would require, (4) undermining the fundamental values of equality, equity, safety and respect that they (the NEA) teach the students every day.

The NEA repeatedly misrepresents themselves as a professional employee organization. As the largest labor union in the United States, with over 3 million members, the thrust of NEA work is for more generous salaries and perks for its members.

One activity the NEA is good at is mobilizing opposing voices. As soon as Secretary DeVos released the new guidelines, the NEA issued a scathing press release, stating that more than 100,000 educators and advocates had already contacted the federal department to oppose the proposed Title IX rule. There are 132,852 K-12 public schools in America, almost all of which have union representatives. Mobilizing one person out of each school would produce over 100,000 negative responses to Secretary DeVos’s new ruling.

From @detroitnews ed board on new #TitleIX reg: “Despite the hysterical & predictable response from DeVos’ detractors, the changes to these guidelines are not rooted in politics. Rather, they seek to uphold basic constitutional rights on college campuses.” https://t.co/AWIGeNmnFG

— Secretary Betsy DeVos (@BetsyDeVosED) May 11, 2020

The historic new guidelines mean justice for all. That’s a victory for every student in our schools. The change happened because believers prayed and believed God for fair standards on every campus. While we rejoice in a victory, we need not forget those on the front lines at the Department of Education who worked diligently for years to make this a possibility.

Please encourage Secretary DeVos and her team—post a prayer on the IFA webpage HERE.

About the Author: Nancy Huff is an educator with a mission to equip believers to pray strategically for the Cultural Mountain of Education. She has authored Taking the Mountain of Education: A Strategic Prayer Guide to Transform America’s Schools. She leads prayer groups to pray at key educational locations across the US. Currently, Nancy serves as the Heartland Apostolic Prayer Network (HAPN) Lead Prayer Coordinator for the Mountain of Education. For additional information go to: https://takingthemountainofeducation.com/author/nancyahuff/