Well, none of that even is “the rules.” It’s “guidance” on how to uphold Title IX, which some — including an organization the DeVos family has donated to — think is unconstitutional. And the Office of Civil Rights, which makes sure schools uphold all this guidance, reports to the secretary of education: Betsy DeVos. At a minimum, she has to tell them to keep enforcing it. “It’s important for young people to know that Title IX can’t be rolled back just by tinkering with the guidance,” Mahroh Jahangiri, executive director of Know Your IX told Refinery29. “Title IX is the law, and the protections provided by it have been clarified by federal cases over decades; those rights aren’t going anywhere.” But you could fill a Big Ten school’s stadium with what exists in the space between what the law says is your right, and what you know, demand, and then get access to because it’s within your right. By threatening to pull federal funding, Biden ensured schools adhere to this guidance. If DeVos were to remove that threat, she wouldn’t be rewriting the rules, but she’d be removing schools’ main motivation to uphold them. “This clarification and better accessibility of the law...that’s something DeVos could, and Republicans have said they would like to, alter or repeal. It’s not nothing — it’s terrifying,” Jahangiri said.This was unclear until Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania asked her about it in her hearing. And...it’s still unclear. “Assault in any form is never okay. I just want to be very clear on that,” DeVos said. “If confirmed, I look forward to understanding the past actions and current situation better, and to ensuring that the intent of the law is actually carried out in a way that recognizes both the victim...as well as those who are accused.” We can also look into her proverbial purse to presume her stance on this important issue. The DeVos family foundation has made numerous and lofty donations to Republican lawmakers. (Senator Bernie Sanders placed this at $200 million from the entirety of her family ; and back in 1997 DeVos wrote that they’d expect a “return on investment” from such contributions). They've also chipped in to an organization that’s actively fighting the way universities currently address Title IX complaints. Now that she’s been confirmed, will she make looking into these “past actions and the current situation” a priority? The outlook is not that good.It should be noted that it had taken 1,469 days on average to complete campus sexual assault investigations in 2014, according to the probe by Senators Tim Kaine, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Barbara Boxer, Inside Higher Ed reported last spring. That means years after the Obama administration first demanded attention be paid to the safety and respect of women and other marginalized groups on campus, needs still dwarfed the resources to address them. With a new secretary of education in charge, activists are going to continue making noise around this issue. “My job is to amplify the voice of survivors, especially those who are most marginalized,” said Colleen Daly, director of media and strategic communications at End Rape on Campus. Her organization, together with Know Your IX penned an open letter to Betsy DeVos before her hearing, starting a social media campaign urging her to uphold crucial Title IX advancements. This campaign, Daly added, “is to ensure that Betsy DeVos hears directly from the people that are most impacted by her work, and that she understands that this is genuinely a civil rights issue.” It’s up to Betsy DeVos to uphold, enforce, and maybe rewrite guidance that reaches into those dorms and locker rooms across the country — which is not to say her opposition feels defeated. “DeVos and Republicans are facing a very strong movement of young people who are making sure that [guidance] stays in place…and we aren’t going anywhere,” Jahangiri said. Ultraviolet cofounder Nita Chaudhary agrees: "We will mobilize our more than 1 million members to defend any attacks on Title IX and we will not give an inch on the fight to end campus rape. Given the energy we're seeing from our members in communities across the country so far, we know they stand ready to fight."