Gaslit: UVA narrows the definition of sexual harassment; makes reporting offenses more of a criminal process

"It’s the best that can be done given the limitations of the new regulations, which generally are awful and complete gaslighting..."

UVA quietly announced that its policy and procedures regarding the way sexual assault and harassment is reported have been revised, due to new Title IX regulations from the U.S. Department of Education, which went into effect today.

“Title IX is not a criminal justice process, it is a civil process, but the new regulations try to make it more like a criminal process,” Claire Kaplan, former Program Director of UVA’s Gender Violence & Social Change office, who now teaches at UVA’s Department of Women Gender and Sexuality, told The DTM.

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

Indeed, the new UVA regulations require that live hearings be conducted, with “advisors” being allowed to cross examine the opposing party and their witnesses, and an appointed “decision maker” who runs the hearing. The “advisors” of course, can be lawyers, quite well-paid and aggressive ones if someone can afford them, though “decision makers” are adv…