Story highlights Scheduled to be in attendance include representatives from a men's rights group

Activists and politicians gathered to protest potential changes to the civil rights law

Washington (CNN) Education Secretary Betsy DeVos hosted a series of "listening sessions" on Thursday afternoon for various groups impacted by Title IX as part of the Department of Education's re-evaluation of Obama-era policies regarding sexual assault on college campuses.

Those in attendance included representatives from a men's rights group, as well as sexual assault survivors and representatives from educational institutions, according to a news release from the Department of Education.

"No student should be the victim of sexual assault," DeVos said. "No student should feel unsafe. No student should feel like there isn't a way to seek justice, and no student should feel the scales are tipped against him or her. We need to get this right, we need to protect all students and we need to do it quickly. It's obvious the toll this places on everyone involved."

The event initially sparked backlash when it was announced that students and parents involved in the National Coalition for Men Carolinas would be present, but comments made to The New York Times by the Education Department's head for the Office of Civil Rights thrust the issue into the spotlight.

The acting head of the Education Department's civil rights office, Candice Jackson, said Title IX investigation processes have not been "fairly balanced between the accusing victim and the accused student," and "Rather, the accusations -- 90% of them -- fall into the category of 'we were both drunk,' 'we broke up, and six months later I found myself under a Title IX investigation because she just decided that our last sleeping together was not quite right,'" according to The New York Times report, published Wednesday.

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