WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin on Friday sharply criticized Education Secretary Betsy DeVos for proposed changes to the way colleges and universities must respond to sexual harassment accusations.

Slotkin, D-Holly, said under the changes, students won't have all the protection that they should from sexual harassers. She also went so far as to say that had DeVos' rules been in place before, Michigan State University "would likely not have been required to take action to protect the survivors of the Larry Nassar scandal."

The changes being proposed by DeVos would narrow the definition of what qualifies as harassment and ensure more rights for students accused of harassment.

Slotkin, a freshman congresswoman who district includes Michigan State's East Lansing campus, called for DeVos, a wealthy west Michigan Republican and former school choice advocate, to reconsider the proposed changes.

What does Slotkin say?

Slotkin, whose victory in what had been a Republican-held district is largely attributable to voters in Ingham County where Michigan State is located, sent a letter to DeVos saying the new rules will be a "detriment" to victims and schools in combating sexual harassment.

"This rule will excuse large swaths of harassing activity from scrutiny," she wrote. And in the aftermath of the Nassar case, in which the Michigan State and USA Gymnastics physician sexual assaulted hundreds of girls and young women, implementing the changes would "show that we have not learned from this tragedy, but rather ignored it."

Specifically, she says the new rule goes too far by defining sexual harassment as conduct so "severe, pervasive and objectively offensive" that it effectively denies the victim equal access to education and by only holding colleges and university's liable in cases where an official who could take action was notified of the specific behavior, rather than the school having an affirmative obligation to act on its own knowledge of harassment.

The Education Department didn't immediately respond to the criticism.

Why is this happening now?

In November, DeVos proposed the changes to what is known as Title IX after reversing earlier rules put in place by former President Barack Obama's administration that some university administrators and lawyers believed put too much blame on schools and tipped a legal balance toward accusers over the accused.

A comment period on those new changes ended Wednesday with more than 100,000 comments coming in and now the U.S. Department of Education and DeVos will look at whether to finalize or alter the proposed rules.

What is the impact of these rules?

DeVos said the change was needed to restore a legal balance and protect the ability of schools to concentrate on teaching. She said her focus was on making sure schools had "clear policies and fair processes that every student can rely on." While she said every survivor of sexual violence "must be taken seriously," students accused of misconduct also needed to know "that guilt is not predetermined" and be given the chance to confront accusers and not be summarily removed from classes or campuses.

Survivors' advocates and other critics, however, argue the changes go too far and will result in schools doing less to investigate and respond to accusations and victims refusing to come forward.

"I believe the new Title IX procedures defined by the Department of Education accomplish exactly what they set out to do: impose further strain on survivors of sexual assault and alleviate institutions of their responsibility to protect students and their safety," Morgan McCaul, who was one of the hundreds of survivors who testified against Nassar, told the Free Press in November.

What can she do to stop DeVos?

Not much, since the authority for enforcing and implementing the rules rests with the Department of Education. But Congress — and a Democratic majority in the U.S. House — holds the power of the purse and could apply pressure on DeVos and could also attempt to pass legislation forcing a change.

Such legislation would be unlikely to pass, however, given that Republicans are still in control in the Senate. And many of them have applauded DeVos' proposed changes to the Obama-era rules, believing they are overdue.

Read more on this topic:

Letters: Speak out against Title IX change sought by Betsy DeVos

Why sex assault survivors are fuming over DeVos proposal

Contact Todd Spangler at tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @tsspangler