In Combative Affirmation Listening to, Republicans Grill Civil Rights Nominee Lhamon on Divisive Points from Trans Scholar Rights to Campus Sexual Assault

By Jason Wilson Last updated Jul 13, 2021

F.Racial discrimination against transgender students in sports brought together some of the most politically-charged education debates in the country in a single Senate hearing Tuesday as lawmakers pondered Catherine Lhamon’s nomination as top civil rights activist for the Department of Education.

Democratic lawmakers portrayed Lhamon, who was previously Assistant Secretary of State for Civil Rights for the Department of Education during the Obama administration, as a staunch student advocate. Republicans, meanwhile, posed tough questions and accused her of being an overzealous bureaucrat who exceeded her legal authority. An ongoing debate about how schools should respond to complaints of sexual misconduct on campus became the main point of conflict during the Lhamon hearing.

The Senate Education Committee hearing considering Lhamon’s likely return to her old job was divisive from the start. In his opening address, North Carolina Senator Richard Burr, the senior Republican on the committee, said he was not convinced that Lhamon “understands, or at least appreciates, the limits of its authority” and lamented that it would expose Trump-era regulation , which strengthened the rights of students accused of sexual misconduct to due process.

Although Lhamon maintained a measured stance based heavily on applicable law, Burr urged her on due process, including whether and not students should have the right to see the evidence used against them on allegations of wrongdoing believes in the “presumption of innocence”. “Ultimately, Barr argued that Lhamon’s record of holding schools accountable for student sexual misconduct was” deeply troubling, if not disqualifying. “

When asked by Senator Burr, Lhamon will not say that she supports the presumption of innocence; will only say that in “civil rights investigations” TIX arbitrators “should be open to the possibility” that the students are not guilty.

– KC Johnson (@ kcjohnson9) July 13, 2021

After Lhamon accused former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos of years of backwarding civil rights enforcement, Lhamon said Tuesday that it was vital for the Civil Rights Office to “return to lawful, impartial enforcement.” In 2011, before Lhamon became assistant secretary, the Obama administration released a “Dear Colleague” letter instructing educators to investigate and establish allegations of sexual misconduct “regardless of where the behavior took place.” to apply the preponderance of evidence standard to guilt. Eight months after her tenure, DeVos repealed the guidelines and replaced them with new Title IX regulations in 2020. The Biden administration has already promised to “restore” the guidelines of the Obama era.

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Avoiding a direct answer to Burr’s question, Lhamon argued instead that, ultimately, “will not have control over what changes may or may not be made to the Title IX Regulation”, given the work of the Biden government on the matter has already started. However, she believed that Title IX did not protect students from sexual misconduct on campus for a long time, and that Trump-era regulations weakened enforcement.

That recognition came after Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy re-surfaced a 2020 Lhamon tweet arguing that Trump-era regulations would “move the country back to the bad old days”, than it was “used to rape and sexually molest students with impunity.” In defending the tweet, Lhamon noted that Trump-era regulations have narrowed down which school officials must respond to allegations of sexual misconduct. This group includes Title IX coordinators, school officials with “authority to take corrective action” and K-12 teachers in cases of student misconduct.

“Among the resolutions I oversaw when I ran the Civil Rights Bureau were resolutions in which, for example, a college student in Michigan reported that she was sexually harassed by a counselor at the counseling center while attending sexual counseling went harassment, ”Lhamon said. “She reported it to the counseling center. According to the current regulation, the school would not be obliged to investigate. “

While the Senate HELP Committee asked Catherine Lhamon about her support for #trans-youth and #TitleIX, it’s important to remember that schooling and receiving can save lives. I am proud to see that Catherine is committed to all of the students. #confirmLhamon @TrevorProject

– CaseyPick (@CaseyJPick) July 13, 2021

The Lhamon nomination hearing also highlighted another Title IX topic that has been central to recent partisan feuds: the right of transgender students to participate in school sports. In 2016, under the leadership of Lhamon, the Department of Education published a “Dear Colleague” letter informing schools that transgender students must be allowed to use toilet facilities that match their gender identity. The Trump administration repealed these guidelines in 2017.

ALL: https://www.the74million.org/supreme-court-declines-to-hear-case-over-transgender-students-bathroom-rights-letting-lower-court-victory-for-gavin-grimm-stand/

On a series of questions, Senator Tommy Tuberville, a Republican from Alabama, Lhamon asked whether transgender girls should be allowed to compete in women’s athletics or whether such policies discriminate against cis women. Tuberville, who was the chief football coach at Auburn University prior to joining the Senate, suggested that transgender students could be relegated to their own sports teams instead.

In response, Lhamon said that Title IX is designed to ensure that no one is exposed to gender discrimination in public schools, including any student who wishes to participate in school sports.

When Republicans scrutinized Lhamon for its political record, Democrats consistently rallied to support them. In defending the Obama-era guidelines on the rights of transgender students, Senator Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, accused Republicans of running a “public relations campaign” that was not about protecting female athletes. but “unfortunately about marginalizing them” go children and make people fear them and see them as a threat. “

“To be honest, nothing could be further from the truth,” he said. “These are children who, like all of our children, want to take part in athletics, an experience central to growing up for millions of children across the country. An idea that we everyone in this nation just because of her [gender identity]I think is deeply un-American. “

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A dual discipline: How Catherine Lhamon could turn back the clock with a renewed focus on persistent racial differences and spark new feuds

In addition to guidelines on transgender student rights, Lhamon’s tenure in the Obama administration included a 2014 “Dear Colleague” letter warning schools that racial differences in school discipline could violate federal civil rights laws. The Trump administration also overturned those guidelines, but Lhamon said Tuesday that it was “critical” for the Biden administration to reinstate them. In fact, it found that when the Civil Rights Bureau was created in 1979 in part to enforce state desegregation orders, racially diverse school disciplines were among the first problems investigators faced.

That racial differences in school discipline persist to this day “means that we as a country haven’t hugged each other and are not getting our children right enough,” she said, adding that racial differences are not always a form of discrimination. “I think it is important to reintroduce guidance on this topic, and I think it is important to clarify with school communities what the civil rights obligations are and how best to do the work in their classes. “

Although Tuesday’s hearing focused primarily on Lhamon, lawmakers also took into account the nominations of Lisa Brown as General Counsel to the Department of Education and Roberto Rodriguez as Assistant Secretary for Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development. Brown is currently General Counsel of Georgetown University and Rodriguez is President and CEO of the nonprofit Teach Plus. On average, the confirmation process for political appointments takes 68 days between their nomination and a final Senate vote, according to the non-partisan Congressional Research Service.

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