WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden will sign an executive order Monday leading the Department of Education to review policies implemented by the Donald Trump administration, including changes to Title IX regulations banning sex discrimination in federally funded institutions, according to government officials.
Biden focused on gender equity during his campaign and vowed to bolster Title IX if he won the White House. He will also sign a second executive order formally establishing the White House Gender Policy Council, according to two administration officials who briefed reporters on the plan. Biden’s transition team announced its plans to create the board before taking office.
The order leading to the revision of Title IX could pave the way for a major shift in the way schools handle allegations of sexual misconduct.
Trump Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, in 2018 rescinded a standard of the Obama-era administration in cases of reported sexual assault to demand a “preponderance of evidence,” meaning sexual harassment or violence is more likely to occur, in “evidence clear and convincing “.
The DeVos changes reduced the responsibility of colleges and universities to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct and strengthened defendants’ due process rights., including the right to question his accusers through a third defense attorney at campus hearings.
Biden, as vice president, together with the then Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, in 2011, established the legal orientation of what was expected of college campuses in response to allegations of sexual violence on behalf of President Barack Obama’s administration.
With the review by the Department of Education, Biden’s intention is to establish policies that help ensure that students have a free, non-discriminatory sexual harassment environment based on sexual orientation or gender identity, according to a Biden official. White House that informed reporters about the orders.
The order establishing the Gender Policy Council comes after Trump dissolved an office specifically focused on women’s issues created during the Obama administration, which was renamed the House Women and Girls Council. White.
While the new council is a resurrection of the Obama era, an administration official said giving it a new name was recognizing that inequalities can affect people of all genders. Still, the official said the council will focus mainly on the issues facing women and girls because of the “disproportionate barriers” they face.
The new council is tasked with helping to promote gender equity in the administration’s domestic and foreign policy efforts. Some of the issues on which the council will focus are the fight against sexual harassment, the resolution of structural barriers to women’s participation in the labor force, the reduction of wage and gender wealth gaps, the solving care problems that have disproportionately affected women and the response to gender-based violence.
The orders come when Biden plans to rule from the White House later Monday, on the occasion of International Women’s Day, a world day that celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.