Candice Jackson, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, apologized Wednesday for saying that '90 per cent' of campus sexual abuse cases can be summed up as 'we were both drunk, we broke up'

The Education Department's civil rights chief has said she's sorry for making 'flippant' remarks about 'false' sexual assault claims on campus.

On Wednesday Candice Jackson, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, apologized for telling the New York Times that in most cases there's 'not even an accusation that these accused accused students overrode the will of a young woman.'

'Rather, the accusations - 90 per cent 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,"' she said in the NYT interview.

In her statement of apology, Jackson said she was a rape survivor. 'I would never seek to diminish anyone's experience,' she said.

'My words in The New York Times poorly characterized the conversations I've had with countless groups of advocates. What I said was flippant, and I am sorry.'

Both Jackon's claim that investigations tend to be unfairly balanced against the accused and her subsequent apology came on Wednesday.

That was the eve of a series of meetings that her boss, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, is holding to examine the impact of the Obama administration's stepped-up efforts to hold schools accountable for investigating sexual violence.

Several groups of people were among those invited to meet with DeVos on Thursday to talk about enforcement of Title IX as it relates to sexual assault.

Jackson's comments, and apology, came the day before her boss, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos (pictured), will hold a meeting with campaigners about Obama-era regulations that say sex assault on federally funded campuses is sexual discrimination under Title IX

Among them were survivors of sexual violence, people who say they were falsely accused and disciplined, and representatives of colleges and universities.

Advocates for assault survivors have spent years trying to get schools to take victims and a 'rape culture' seriously.

They worry that DeVos' series of roundtable meetings are really a preview for a rollback of Obama's guidance, which said sexual assault is sex discrimination prohibited by Title IX for schools that receive federal funding.

But groups representing those who say they have been falsely accused suggest the Obama-era guidance weighted campus justice systems in favor of those alleging sexual violence.

Jackson said in the Times interview that investigations have not been 'fairly balanced between the accusing victim and the accused student.'

Many of those who want Obama's guidance reversed have said they want assault cases referred to law enforcement.

Jackson sought to issue reassurances that both she and the department take the position that 'all sexual harassment and sexual assault must be taken seriously.'

According to a 2015 survey by the Association of American Universities, one in four female students at leading universities have been sexually assaulted by force or while incapacitated in college.