media mention

Betsy DeVos Says She Wants to Keep Schools Safe and Equitable. Her Policies Tell a Different Story

DeVos rescinded the “preponderance of the evidence” standard—which Adaku Onyeka-Crawford, senior counsel for education at the National Women’s Law Center, classifies as the fairest available—in favor of a much murkier “clear and convincing evidence” standard. “If someone has a bias against survivors, it’s very difficult to say what is and is not convincing,” Onyeka-Crawford tells Teen Vogue. While “preponderance of the evidence” basically requires one party to tip the scales slightly in their direction, explains Onyeka-Crawford, clear and convincing evidence holds the complainant to a higher burden of proof. Not only is DeVos’s standard “vague,” Onyeka-Crawford says, it also “stacks the deck against survivors.”