Yale President Peter Salovey’s statement on proposed Title IX rule changes

Noting that today marks the closing of the public comment period for the U.S. Department of Education’s proposed revisions to the Title IX regulations regarding how educational institutions respond to sexual misconduct, Yale President Peter Salovey stated: “Sexual misconduct is a serious and potentially devastating offense. Yale, like other colleges and universities, has developed policies and procedures designed to address this problem in a way that is thorough, fair, and appropriate for an educational institution. The Department of Education’s proposal would replace our carefully constructed procedures with a requirement that all universities adopt courtroom-like processes, such as live cross-examination of survivors and others by attorneys.” 

He added, “I strongly believe that such a mandate would be harmful to our students and other community members, and I am deeply concerned that an overly legalistic process, together with other provisions in the proposed Title IX rule, will discourage survivors from coming forward to seek help and redress. It will hurt those who are most vulnerable and it will not make the process fairer for anyone. That is why I have worked hard to inform our elected representatives about Yale’s efforts on these issues, and why we collaborated with federal and state associations to submit comments on the proposed rule that will send a powerful and unified message from thousands of higher education institutions. I will continue to advocate for policies that support our ongoing efforts to apply best practices in preventing and responding to sexual harassment.”