Title IX Remix: will new rules on sexual harassment & assault investigations serve justice?

“If it goes into effect, this rule will make schools more dangerous for all students,” said a statement by the National Woman’s Law Center.

Eight months ago I filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the US Department of Education for information about a Title IX investigation that was opened at the University of Virginia on April 19, 2019, thinking it might provide information and insight about a process often shrouded in secrecy. Last week, I received a 930-page PDF document about the case from the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), longer than any novel I’ve ever read, but it ended up being a short read — all but 9 pages were redacted and blank, and 3 of those pages had had the relevant content removed, 2 were copies, and 2 were consent and procedure forms. What remained were 2 pages with a few sentences from the person filing the complaint and one word confirmation that the complaint was about “sex.”

The person’s name, sex, the date the complaint was filed, who the complaint was against, any kind of account of the incident(s), and whether or not they were a UVA student o…