Leading Democrats in Congress, activists and many survivors of sexual assault are up in arms about possible plans by the Department of Education to overhaul federal policies on campus sexual assault instituted by the Obama administration. They say those changes will weaken protections for survivors, that they will embolden misogynist fringe groups and that they will turn back the clock to a time when rape was ignored.

But whatever one may think of the Trump administration, this is one area in which its initiatives may herald positive change. Federal policies on campus sexual assault desperately need to be revised.

Much of the dispute revolves around a 2011 “Dear Colleague” letter issued by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. That letter recommended that sexual assault complaints investigated by colleges under Title IX, which guarantees gender equity in education, be evaluated under the “preponderance of the evidence” standard. This means that if the school believes it is even slightly more likely — as in, a 50.1 percent chance — that an assault accusation is true, it can deem the defendant guilty. This is a far lower threshold than the “clear and convincing evidence” standard previously used by many schools, let alone the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard used in the criminal justice system.

This new standard can create a powerful bias against the accused, especially when coupled with the Obama administration’s threat to yank federal aid from colleges that do not move aggressively against sexual assault.