Rewire.com
2.3.17 | Ally Boguhn
A spokesperson for Liberty University suggested to Reuters that Jerry Falwell Jr. hoped to chip away at regulations affecting colleges and universities, including rules on investigating and reporting campus sexual assault.
Jerry Falwell Jr., the evangelical president of Liberty University, says President Trump has asked him to lead an education reform task force. He hopes to roll back federal regulations on campus sexual assault, according to a spokesperson from his university.
Falwell told the Chronicle of Higher Education Tuesday that though the details of the task force had yet to be formally announced, he would lead a group to identify changes that could be made to policies at the U.S. Department of Education.
Len Stevens, a spokesperson for Liberty University, suggested to Reuters on Wednesday that Falwell hoped to chip away at regulations affecting colleges and universities, including federal rules on investigating and reporting campus sexual assault under Title IX, a federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in education. Falwell “believes on-campus sexual assault investigations are best left to police and prosecutors,” reported the media outlet.
“I think that it’s very unfortunate that folks who are going to be in charge—Falwell and potentially Betsy DeVos—are thinking about rolling back the progress that we’ve made over the past two years, but I don’t think that changes the fact that schools have the responsibility under Title IX to treat all students equally and to ensure their safe and equitable access to education,” Annie Clark, executive director of End Rape on Campus (EROC), told Rewire.
