Former Vice President Joe Biden is promising to scrap newly proposed guidelines by Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos meant to ensure that individuals being accused of sexual misconduct on college campuses receive due process.
Biden, who most notably led the Obama administration’s “It’s On Us” campaign as vice president, criticized the education secretary on Wednesday for making college campuses “less safe.” In particular, the former vice president claimed DeVos’s “new rule gives colleges a green light to ignore sexual violence and strip survivors of their rights.”
“Survivors deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, and when they step forward they should be heard, not silenced,” Biden said in a statement.
The statement came shortly after Devos and the Department of Education announced new regulations mandating that colleges and universities give individuals accused of sexual misconduct formal complaints, which are to be adjudicated in a courtroom-like setting.
Grand jury rejects DOJ effort to indict Democratic lawmakers who urged military to defy illegal orders
Key House committee advances nationwide voter ID bill, setting up 2026 election fight
What the timing of the FBI’s image release suggests in the Nancy Guthrie case: crime insider
Dem senator fumes that GOP’s foreign funding claim ‘delegitimizes’ anger of anti-ICE agitators in US
Susan Collins shrugs off attacks by Democrats and Trump, says Maine voters ‘Don’t vote party line’
DOJ Unredacts Alleged Epstein Co-Conspirators After Pressure from Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna
Leavitt brushes off Lutnick–Epstein heat with list of administration wins media ignored before ending briefing
Media Reporting Trump’s Tariffs Cost Americans $1,000, But They’re Ignoring Overall Savings of His Policies
Dem lawmaker compares ICE agents to Nazis and Gestapo during fiery House hearing on enforcement
Senate GOP investigating Pritzker administration over Illinois health records breach
Major charity raises legal questions by funding pro-Harris dark money operation
Fulton County FBI raid prompted by Trump 2020 election lawyer’s criminal referral
AI power players pour cash into competitive primaries as 2026 midterms heat up
Grassley says secret subpoenas for lawmakers’ call logs undercut congressional protections
Shutdown clock ticks as Schumer, Democrats dig in on DHS funding demands
Under prior Obama administration guidelines, colleges were allowed to use a “preponderance of the evidence” standard when determining the guilt of those accused. Such regulations often led to lawsuits alleging the infringement of civil liberties, as many of the accused were not allowed to cross-examine witnesses.
Devos’s new regulations will allow representatives for not only victims but also the accused to call witnesses and challenge evidence. Such hearings, which will be either conducted in-person or virtually, will have to now to rely on a “clear and convincing” standard, rather than just a “preponderance of the evidence.” When investigating complaints, colleges will also have to rely on trained personnel to evaluate evidence and make final decisions.
The former vice president said on Wednesday:
Trump’s Education Department … is trying to shame and silence survivors, and take away parents’ peace of mind… as President, I’ll be … on the side of survivors, who deserve to have their voices heard, their claims taken seriously and investigated, and their rights upheld.
Biden’s attack on DeVos and the Trump administration comes as the former vice president, himself, is under fire and facing accusations of sexual assault.
Grand jury rejects DOJ effort to indict Democratic lawmakers who urged military to defy illegal orders
Key House committee advances nationwide voter ID bill, setting up 2026 election fight
What the timing of the FBI’s image release suggests in the Nancy Guthrie case: crime insider
Dem senator fumes that GOP’s foreign funding claim ‘delegitimizes’ anger of anti-ICE agitators in US
Susan Collins shrugs off attacks by Democrats and Trump, says Maine voters ‘Don’t vote party line’
DOJ Unredacts Alleged Epstein Co-Conspirators After Pressure from Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna
Leavitt brushes off Lutnick–Epstein heat with list of administration wins media ignored before ending briefing
Media Reporting Trump’s Tariffs Cost Americans $1,000, But They’re Ignoring Overall Savings of His Policies
Dem lawmaker compares ICE agents to Nazis and Gestapo during fiery House hearing on enforcement
Senate GOP investigating Pritzker administration over Illinois health records breach
Major charity raises legal questions by funding pro-Harris dark money operation
Fulton County FBI raid prompted by Trump 2020 election lawyer’s criminal referral
AI power players pour cash into competitive primaries as 2026 midterms heat up
Grassley says secret subpoenas for lawmakers’ call logs undercut congressional protections
Shutdown clock ticks as Schumer, Democrats dig in on DHS funding demands
Late last month, Tara Reade, who came forward in April 2019 to accuse the former vice president of unwanted touching and sexual harassment, revealed there was more to her story. Reade now claims he pushed her up against a wall and forcibly penetrated her with his fingers, while she was briefly employed by his Senate office in the early 1990s.
The accusation has been difficult to corroborate given that nearly 30 years have passed since it supposedly took place. As such, Reade has sought to make public the sexual harassment complaint she allegedly filed in 1993, especially as former Biden staffers claim no such document exists.
Reade, for her part, has contended that not only does the complaint exist, but it is likely within the thousands of Senate documents the former vice president donated to the University of Delaware in 2011.
Story cited here.
