BOSTON —A national women’s rights group is challenging Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ new guidance on investigating campus sexual assault.
The organization Equal Means Equal and three women who say they were assaulted in college filed a federal lawsuit Thursday in Boston alleging the rules violate civil rights laws.
On Sept. 22, DeVos scrapped President Barack Obama-era rules and issued new guidance allowing schools to use a higher standard of evidence when handling complaints.
The lawsuit says DeVos’ rules violate civil rights laws because they treat violations based on sex differently than civil-rights abuses based on race or nationality, among other claims.
It says the rules could deter victims from reporting assaults and asks the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts to halt schools from adopting them.
Education Department officials didn’t immediately comment.
