The Trump administration recently announced new guidance for how college campuses should handle sexual assault complaints. But Michigan universities won’t be changing their policies right away.
The Trump administration rescinded the Obama-era guidance on campus sexual assault last week.
The new guidance isn’t mandatory, and officials say it’s temporary until they come up with new rules.
Daniel Hurley is the CEO of the Michigan Association of State Universities. He said Michigan campuses will keep their current policies for now.
“While the university officials are looking at those rules, I don’t foresee any knee-jerk reactions,” Hurley said.
A part of the guidance lets schools use a higher standard of evidence when judging sexual assault accusations. Another allows schools to use mediation for an informal resolution of a sexual assault case.
Hurley said state universities have been trying to improve the culture of sexual assault on campus for years. He explained that when incidents occur, the schools want, “to make sure that both due process is involved as well as victims’ rights are adhered to at the highest level.”
Hurley said a committee will meet and go through the new guidance section by section.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos says she wants to strike a balance between the rights of victims and the accused.
For more information on the new guidance, see the Department of Education’s Q&A on Campus Sexual Misconduct.
