A new rule by Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos will reshape how colleges handle sexual misconduct speeding up investigations, adding protections for the accused and even allowing schools to skirt responsibility for assaults entirely if they take place off-campus.

The 2,000-page rule , which was released Wednesday, addresses how K-12 schools and colleges are required to implement Title IX , the federal civil rights law created to ensure gender equality in education. DeVos preemptively dismissed critics she said on a call with reporters that many will, unfortunately, offer you scare quotes and half-truths in attempts to denigrate and undercut this rule and said it would make the process quicker and fairer.

But it follows in her past footsteps to apply legal standards to college disciplinary proceedings, something that makes it harder for survivors of sexual violence to report harassment and assault by narrowing the definition of sexual misconduct and limiting whom a victim can report to. That could be a boon for colleges: When there are fewer sexual misconduct cases, colleges actually save money anywhere from $286 million to $368 million over 10 years, according to estimates included in DeVoss 2018 proposed guideline .

The new Title IX rule will go into effect on Aug. 14, right before the new school year is set to begin, and applies to all schools that receive federal funding, including nearly all colleges and universities, all public K-12 schools and a few private K-12 schools that receive federal dollars.

One alarming element of the new rule is that schools are not responsible for responding to sexual violence that occurs off-campus or while students are studying abroad. Off-campus spaces include housing 87% of college students live off-campus bars and fraternity houses, where sexual abuse can be prevalent. Additionally, this would allow schools involved in sexual assault scandals such as Michigan State and Ohio State to sidestep misconduct perpetrated by staff at off-campus events.

The provision about study abroad programs is extremely concerning, Sage Carson, manager at the anti-sexual violence organization KnowYourIX , told HuffPost.

There are two times we would have the most calls and the most reports, Carson said of her time as a hotline advocate for college campus sexual assault survivors. One is during the red zone at the beginning of the school year, and the second is when folks would return from study abroad in the winter. This means that a majority, or all of these students now, would not be able to move forward with a formal report even if they are still forced to see their [perpetrator] every day in class. According to a 2017 analysis of sexual violence and study abroad, female college students who study abroad are five times more likely to be raped than their counterparts who stay on their college campuses.