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Under the president’s planned revisions to Title IX, Joe Biden’s behavior toward Betsy DeVos when they first encountered one another might get him into trouble for sexual harassment.
Betsy DeVos: “He came up to me — I had never met him before in my life — he came up to me, put his hands on my shoulders, and his forehead on my forehead for several seconds, and had a conversation with me. If he had done that as a student on a college campus, under his proposed rule, I would have a Title IX sexual harassment allegation to file.”
The incident happened in 2016, but it’s relevant now because Biden is the one who proposed the changes to Title IX that would make his behavior toward DeVos actionable. The new rule would narrow the definition of sexual harassment and allow for cross-examination of accusers.
It’s not clear if Biden’s behavior toward DeVos rises to the level of sexual harassment under the current definition, but it would if the proposed changes are enacted. And that’s not all; the new rule would also make it easier for accused students to sue their schools for damages.
So, if Biden’s behavior toward DeVos is any indication, he may want to rethink his support for the changes to Title IX. Otherwise, he could find himself on the receiving end of a sexual harassment lawsuit.
These changes would mean that less than 1% of men accused of sexual assault on college campuses would be found guilty, according to a study by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.
But these same rules, if applied to Biden himself, would mean that he would almost certainly be found guilty of sexual assault.
In 1991, Tara Reade accused Biden of sexually assaulting her when she was working as a staff assistant in his Senate office. Reade has said that Biden pushed her against a wall and penetrated her with his fingers.
Biden has denied the allegations, but Reade has provided detailed accounts from people who say she told them about the incident at the time it happened. Reade has also produced a document from 1993 in which she complained about sexual harassment by a senior staffer in Biden’s office.
Under the Biden administration’s proposed Title IX rules, Reade would be able to present her evidence to a single investigator, who would then decide whether or not to recommend that Biden be found guilty. Given the fact that Reade has multiple witnesses and a document corroborating her story, it is highly likely that the investigator would find Biden guilty.
If Biden were to be found guilty of sexual assault under the new Title IX rules, he would almost certainly be removed from office. But because the rules have not yet been put in place, Biden is currently not at risk of being held accountable for his alleged actions.
The hypocrisy of the Biden administration’s proposed Title IX rules is stunning. On the one hand, they would make it nearly impossible for men to be found guilty of sexual assault on college campuses. On the other hand, if they were applied to Biden himself, he would almost certainly be found guilty.
