A Bipartisan Approach to Making Colleges Safer and More Accountable

Finally, all across America, people are waking up to the problem of sexual violence on college campuses, thanks to brave young students who are telling their personal stories and demanding action.

A bipartisan group in Congress is listening and will not stop until we have changed the system so that universities and colleges are held accountable for protecting their students.

Since we re-introduced the Campus Accountability and Safety Act in February, 2015, our coalition has grown to 36 Senate sponsors and co-sponsors of both parties and we are growing every day.

Here is what we know.

In 2014, universities reported over 6,7000 sexual assaults to the US Department of Education, but a recent study estimates that actual incidents are at least four times that number each year.

This is because even when survivors of sexual violence have the confidence to report the assault to their colleges, the schools often publicly misrepresent the number of sexual offenses that occur on their campuses.

This under-reporting was confirmed by recent APA research, which found:

“When it comes to sexual assault and rape, the norm for universities and colleges is to downplay the situation and the numbers. The result is students at many universities continue to be attacked and victimized, and punishment isn’t meted out to the rapists and sexual assaulters.”

Currently, 178 institutions of higher education are under investigation by the Department of Education for failure to properly address cases of campus sexual assault.

In fact, according to Senator McCaskill’s 2014 survey of hundreds of universities and colleges, 41 percent had not initiated a sexual assault investigation in the last five years. Not one.

This is despite the fact that universities and colleges are required under federal law to investigate any reports of sexual violence made to the institution.

A recent Inside Higher Ed Survey of College and University Presidents shows a troubling disconnect that may explain the failure on the part of universities to investigate and accurately report these crimes:

“About a third of U.S. college presidents believe sexual assault is a problem on American college campuses, but only 6 percent believe it’s a problem on their own campuses.”

According to a Huffington Post review of public records, fewer than one-third of the students found responsible for sexual assault are expelled. Which means it’s not unusual for a survivor to have to co-exist with his or her assailant on campus.

The Problem

The reality is that — perversely — colleges are not incentivized to report these crimes accurately or to create an environment where students feel comfortable coming forward to make a report in the first place. In fact, on the contrary, colleges are incentivized to sweep these crimes under the rug.

Why?

1. Colleges and universities don’t want to risk a bad public relations story.
2. The penalties for non-compliance of reporting assault statistics accurately to the federal government amount to a slap on the wrist.
3. The institutions are likely more concerned about being sued by accused students than having to pay a paltry $35,000 fine for non-compliance.

The Solution

In order to combat the epidemic of campus sexual assault in a real way, we need to flip these incentives so that it no longer makes sense for colleges to sweep these crimes under the rug.

That’s precisely what the Campus Accountability and Safety Act, which was introduced in February, 2015 with six Democrats and six Republicans, was designed to do.

What would the bill do?

1. Establish new campus resources and support services for student survivors.
2. Ensure that college and university staff meet minimum training standards to address assault cases in a trained, professional manner that is fair to both the accused and the accuser.
3. Create historic transparency requirements to provide students, parents, and officials with an accurate picture of the problem and how campuses are addressing it.
4. Require a uniform disciplinary process on each campus and coordination with law enforcement.
5. Establish enforceable Title IX penalties and stiffer penalties for Clery Act violations.

Survivors tell us time and time again that they are victimized twice, first by their assailant, then by their university, which too often blames the survivor, fails to bring the attacker to justice, and sweeps the crime under the rug.

The Campus Accountability and Safety Act will help end this injustice.

Join Us

What can you do to support this bill and help end the epidemic of campus sexual assault?

• TAKE ACTION Join the movement, add your name and voice to the effort to urge Congress to pass the Campus Accountability and Safety Act.
• SPREAD THE WORD Amplify your voice by sharing this story on Facebook and Twitter so your friends and family become engaged on this issue.
• SHARE YOUR STORY Are you a survivor of campus sexual assault? Go to Off The Sidelines to share your story or read the stories of other survivors.

Thank you for making your voice heard!