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.
Newsom declares state of emergency in Orange County as failing chemical tank nears catastrophic explosion
US Army hits 2026 recruiting goals four months early, Pete Hegseth announces at West Point commencement
Breaking: Kyle Busch’s Family Reveals Cause of Death
EXCLUSIVE: Trump-backed military vet mocked for disability ahead of Memorial Day: ‘Most shameful thing’
What One Illinois Town Says About The Current State Of America
Possible Statue of Pharaoh Who Moses May Have Confronted Discovered in Egypt
Sanders-backed gubernatorial hopeful’s past pro-life views clash with current abortion stance
Trump Issues Forceful Defense of His Anti-Weaponization Fund as Senate Republicans Balk
Military families want DOJ to distribute nearly $800M from French cement company found guilty of bribing ISIS
‘Moderate’ Dem’s unearthed ‘deconstruct’ law enforcement comments draw fire from GOP critics
Inside the rise of hardship politics as wealthy Democrats eye 2028
Magnitude 6.0 earthquake rocks Hawaii’s Big Island as Kilauea volcano likely to erupt again in days
Judge Tosses Evidence Against Luigi Mangione
UC Davis fraternity student’s 2001 death ruled a suicide after 29 stab wounds questioned in true crime podcast
Dem Darling Raked In Cash From Donors With Chinese Gov’t, CCP Intel Ties
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.
Newsom declares state of emergency in Orange County as failing chemical tank nears catastrophic explosion
US Army hits 2026 recruiting goals four months early, Pete Hegseth announces at West Point commencement
Breaking: Kyle Busch’s Family Reveals Cause of Death
EXCLUSIVE: Trump-backed military vet mocked for disability ahead of Memorial Day: ‘Most shameful thing’
What One Illinois Town Says About The Current State Of America
Possible Statue of Pharaoh Who Moses May Have Confronted Discovered in Egypt
Sanders-backed gubernatorial hopeful’s past pro-life views clash with current abortion stance
Trump Issues Forceful Defense of His Anti-Weaponization Fund as Senate Republicans Balk
Military families want DOJ to distribute nearly $800M from French cement company found guilty of bribing ISIS
‘Moderate’ Dem’s unearthed ‘deconstruct’ law enforcement comments draw fire from GOP critics
Inside the rise of hardship politics as wealthy Democrats eye 2028
Magnitude 6.0 earthquake rocks Hawaii’s Big Island as Kilauea volcano likely to erupt again in days
Judge Tosses Evidence Against Luigi Mangione
UC Davis fraternity student’s 2001 death ruled a suicide after 29 stab wounds questioned in true crime podcast
Dem Darling Raked In Cash From Donors With Chinese Gov’t, CCP Intel Ties
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.
