--- title: Betsy DeVos: Senator Wants Her to Fire Candice Jackson description: Sen. Patty Murray called on Betsy DeVos to remove an official who said 90% of campus sexual assault claims amount to "we were both drunk" canonical: https://time.com/4861905/patty-murray-betsy-devos-candice-jackson-remark/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-17T22:33:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T05:43:21.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Senator Wants Official Fired After 'Egregious' Campus Sexual Assault Remark og:description: The official said sexual assault accusations "fall into the category of 'we were both drunk.'" og:url: https://time.com/4861905/patty-murray-betsy-devos-candice-jackson-remark/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcf33f687e94c3dda/6988d610656a3f8357bd0ddd/betsy-devos-candice-jackson-patty-murray.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5124 og:image:height: 2882 og:image:alt: Betsy DeVos og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Senator Wants Official Fired After 'Egregious' Campus Sexual Assault Remark twitter:description: The official said sexual assault accusations "fall into the category of 'we were both drunk.'" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcf33f687e94c3dda/6988d610656a3f8357bd0ddd/betsy-devos-candice-jackson-patty-murray.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Senator Wants Education Official Fired After 'Egregious' Campus Sexual Assault Remark > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=a4b83fb3-7bca-4613-80fe-743e22535188&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Accused Students Found Betsy DeVos’ Meetings on Campus Sexual Assault ‘Uplifting.’ Victims’ Advocate [Watch (HLS stream): Accused Students Found Betsy DeVos’ Meetings on Campus Sexual Assault ‘Uplifting.’ Victims’ Advocate](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fm1GLoSV.m3u8) (1:00)  _Published 2017-07-14. Men who say they were falsely accused of sexual assault and harassment in college left their meeting with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Thursday feeling encouraged that a government official had seen their side of the story, they said._  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Updated: Dec 13, 2023 5:43 AM UTCPublished: Jul 17, 2017 10:33 PM UTC  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Updated: Dec 13, 2023 5:43 AM UTCPublished: Jul 17, 2017 10:33 PM UTC Washington Sen. Patty Murray on Monday called on Education Secretary [Betsy DeVos](http://time.com/4857377/betsy-devos-campus-sexual-assault-meeting/) to fire Candice Jackson, an education official who [caused a stir last week](http://time.com/4855492/betsy-devos-candice-jackson-campus-sexual-assault-accusations/) when she said that 90% of campus sexual assault accusations “[fall into the category of ‘we were both drunk](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/12/us/politics/campus-rape-betsy-devos-title-iv-education-trump-candice-jackson.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&%5Fr=0).'” Jackson, acting head of the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights made the comments in an [interview with the New York ](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/12/us/politics/campus-rape-betsy-devos-title-iv-education-trump-candice-jackson.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&%5Fr=0)[_Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/12/us/politics/campus-rape-betsy-devos-title-iv-education-trump-candice-jackson.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&%5Fr=0) ahead of DeVos’ [meetings with various advocacy groups](http://time.com/4857377/betsy-devos-campus-sexual-assault-meeting/) on the topic of campus sexual assault. Jackson [later apologized](http://time.com/4857776/candice-jackson-sexual-assault-apology/) for the “flippant” comments. “All sexual harassment and sexual assault must be taken seriously—which has always been my position and will always be the position of this Department,” Jackson said. But Murray — a Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee — on Monday called the remarks the “final straw” for Jackson. “Despite her apology following a public outcry, Ms. Jackson’s callous, insensitive, and egregious comments regarding sexual assault on college campuses crossed a serious line and highlighted her clear biases in this area in a way that, to me and many women and men across the country, should disqualify her from service in the position of top Department of Education protector of students’ right to be safe at school,” Murray said in a statement. DeVos defended Jackson in response on Monday. “Acting Assistant Secretary Candice Jackson apologized for her recent comments that reflect neither my position nor the position of the Department,” she said in a statement. “They also did not reflect Candice’s position and values. Candice is a valuable part of the Administration and an unwavering advocate for the civil rights of all students.” > [](https://twitter.com/PattyMurray/status/887008119666212864) Murray also criticized the department’s decision to [roll back protections](http://time.com/4679063/donald-trump-transgender-bathroom/) for transgender students that allowed them to access bathrooms that aligned with their gender identity. “In the three months she has been acting head of the Office for Civil Rights, Candice Jackson’s words and actions have made it clear why Secretary DeVos has chosen to shield her from scrutiny by not formally nominating her for the position and therefore not giving people across the country an opportunity hear her views on and plans for this critical office and its mission,” Murray said in her statement. ## Transcript Recently, your civil rights chief said that 90 % of campus sex assaults stem from the participants being drunk, and that their rights have been accused or often ignored, do you agree with this sentiment, and is this the mindset of the department as you're You're considering how to change the policy on school campuses. Well, I think she has actually since then apologized and corrected her statement for that. But what is your thought and is that the mindset as you know, I'm trying to determine, what is your opinion Again, we are listening, and we know that there's, that this policy has not worked in too many ways and in too many places, and we need to get it right. And so, we are determined through the course of conversation, and the course of discussion with all parties, to ensure that whatever is done in the future will address the issues and get them right. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4861905/patty-murray-betsy-devos-candice-jackson-remark/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4861905/patty-murray-betsy-devos-candice-jackson-remark/"},"headline":"Senator Wants Education Official Fired After 'Egregious' Campus Sexual Assault Remark","datePublished":"2017-07-17T22:33:36.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T05:43:21.000Z","description":"Murray called the remarks \"callous, insensitive, and egregious\"","url":"https://time.com/4861905/patty-murray-betsy-devos-candice-jackson-remark/","keywords":["Education","Congress","College","onetime","Betsy DeVos"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcf33f687e94c3dda/6988d610656a3f8357bd0ddd/betsy-devos-candice-jackson-patty-murray.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcf33f687e94c3dda/6988d610656a3f8357bd0ddd/betsy-devos-candice-jackson-patty-murray.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Betsy DeVos","caption":"Betsy DeVos","creditText":"Alex Brandon—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/education/","name":"Education"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4861905/patty-murray-betsy-devos-candice-jackson-remark/","name":"Senator Wants Education Official Fired After 'Egregious' Campus Sexual Assault Remark"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Accused Students Found Betsy DeVos’ Meetings on Campus Sexual Assault ‘Uplifting.’ Victims’ Advocate","description":"Men who say they were falsely accused of sexual assault and harassment in college left their meeting with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Thursday feeling encouraged that a government official had seen their side of the story, they said.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/fm1GLoSV/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-07-14T18:30:42.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fm1GLoSV.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4861905/patty-murray-betsy-devos-candice-jackson-remark/","duration":"PT1M","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4861905/patty-murray-betsy-devos-candice-jackson-remark/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```