But the move on Friday suggests Ms. DeVos wants colleges to consider making the change if they are legally able, raising the possibility that different colleges will begin to evaluate sexual assault complaints in different ways. Christina Hoff Sommers, a scholar with the conservative American Enterprise Institute who has written about sexual assault, applauded the administration’s decision to permit mediations, saying that some victims were not necessarily seeking a full-blown investigation and a trial. But Cari Simon, a Washington lawyer who represents sexual assault victims, said that colleges could use mediation to avoid addressing serious accusations. The Obama administration investigated hundreds of colleges based on student complaints that they had failed to adequately enforce sexual assault regulations. Since then, colleges have spent millions of dollars to hire and train investigators and counselors and to establish sexual assault prevention training for students.

Source: New York Times September 22, 2017 15:24 UTC