Trump administration Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has rescinded an Obama-era policy on campus sexual assault - a move campaigners say may make it harder for victims to report attacks.
"As I said earlier this month, the era of rule by letter is over," Ms DeVos said, adding that rights of the accused should be balanced with victims' rights.
The Obama administration's policies essentially put Title IX, the federal law banning gender discrimination in education, at the centre and prompted schools to take responsibility for sexual assault cases.
It also lowered the standards victims needed to meet in order to prove sexual assault as well as increased reporting requirements for schools.
Ms DeVos had indicated this would be her decision last week when speaking at George Mason University's Law School when she said that “through intimidation and coercion, the failed system has clearly pushed schools to overreach."
"Lady Justice is not blind on campuses today,” added Ms DeVos, adding controversy to the issue. Ms DeVos had met with men's rights activists and accused rapists in Washington this past July.
The US Department of Education has opened a "notice-and-comment" period while a formal review of campus adjudication processes is under way.
Ms DeVos claimed, in a statement issued by the agency, that the Obama administration "ignored" the legal procedure of taking into account "comments from stakeholders and the public during the rulemaking process" in its emphasis on campus obligations under Title IX.
The comments will be collected in a new question-and-answer format and in the interim the agency will revert back to a policy established in 2001 under the George W Bush administration as well as a "Dear Colleague" letter in 2006, a mechanism by which a member of a legislative body explains a policy and asks for support.
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