Sexual Assaults on Campus: Is Congress Merely “Piling On”?
Posted on August 8th, 2014
by Dr. Kathleen Conn
On July 30, 2014, National Public Radio (NPR) reported a bipartisan group of U.S Senators has proposed a bill to fine colleges for mismanaging campus rapes . . . up to one percent of their operating budgets . . . if they do not “investigate all possible incidents, provide advocates for victims, and conduct and make public the results of annual student surveys.”
The House allegedly is following suit with a bill of its own. Optimistic Senators expect the bill to become law later this year.
Has no one in Congress heard that over a year ago, in March 2013, President Obama signed the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)? Section 304 of VAWA already mandates that colleges and universities that receive federal financial assistance, which is over 99% of institutions of higher education, do exactly what such a redundant bill proposes.
Section 304 significantly amends and expands the mandates of the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act), and requires colleges to maintain daily logs of all crimes reported, to provide assistance of victims of all crimes, especially sexual misconduct; and to conduct investigations in a prompt, thorough and impartial manner, even if the victim reports the incident to law enforcement.
The new amendments to VAWA go even further than the misguided Senate bill, mandating prevention measures and bystander training to involve the whole community in eradicating sexual assaults on campuses.
Sub-section 13 of Section 304 already provides civil penalties for any institution that substantially misrepresents the number, location, or nature of the crimes that must be reported. Section 304 tracks the guidance documents released in 2011 and 2014 by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the federal agency charged with enforcing Title IX, a 1972 law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. Sexual violence is prohibited under Title IX, and institutions can lose significant Title IX funding if they fail to respond to sexual violence on campus. So much for civil penalties already on the books.
This recounting of the status quo is a justification for the characterization above that this proposed bill is redundant. Unfortunately, the convoluted way the U.S. Congress phrases a law seems to require degrees in both linguistics and law in order to parse out the essence of the law.
Perhaps that is why Senators failed to note the prior existence of the remedial law they now propose. In addition, any additional civil fines levied on colleges and universities will only be passed on to those paying the already unconscionable tuition bills. It will take more than a law to discourage male bystanders from filming gang rapes of drunk women. It will take more than a law to encourage women to refrain from drinking or partaking of drugs at fraternity parties. It will take more than a law to convince parents looking at colleges with their teenagers to ask questions about provisions for safety on campus.
One can argue whether the “1 in 20” women-sexually-assaulted-on-campus statistic is a true reflection of the problem. One can argue whether once-consensual partners will later cry “rape” when it suits them. If the statistic is 1 in 100 women, or 1 in 100 men, who are sexually assaulted on campus, everyone should still be concerned. If a “victim” is giving false testimony (and research says that only about 2% of allegations of sexual assault are untrue), a thorough investigation should be able to reveal that. The false victim should be disciplined, and the alleged perpetrator publicly cleared of misdoing.
Bottom Line
Here is the situation. The “old” Clery Act Handbook, the “how-to to comply” with the Act, is 300 pages long. The “new” Clery Act Handbook will be even longer when the regulations are released some time later this year. Title IX has been law since 1972. Whether human decency can be instilled by legislation is a philosophical question. However, what is certain is that laws are already on the books with which colleges and universities must comply, to deal with sexual violence on their campuses. Both Title IX and the reauthorized VAWA now spell out the details of that compliance. Congress would do well to look at those laws on the books before throwing the book at them.
This Collegiate Comment is a publication of the KingSpry Higher Education Law Division. It is meant to be informational and does not constitute legal advice.
Sexual Assaults on Campus: Is Congress Merely “Piling On”?
Posted on August 8th, 2014
by Dr. Kathleen Conn
On July 30, 2014, National Public Radio (NPR) reported a bipartisan group of U.S Senators has proposed a bill to fine colleges for mismanaging campus rapes . . . up to one percent of their operating budgets . . . if they do not “investigate all possible incidents, provide advocates for victims, and conduct and make public the results of annual student surveys.”
The House allegedly is following suit with a bill of its own. Optimistic Senators expect the bill to become law later this year.
Has no one in Congress heard that over a year ago, in March 2013, President Obama signed the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)? Section 304 of VAWA already mandates that colleges and universities that receive federal financial assistance, which is over 99% of institutions of higher education, do exactly what such a redundant bill proposes.
Section 304 significantly amends and expands the mandates of the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act), and requires colleges to maintain daily logs of all crimes reported, to provide assistance of victims of all crimes, especially sexual misconduct; and to conduct investigations in a prompt, thorough and impartial manner, even if the victim reports the incident to law enforcement.
The new amendments to VAWA go even further than the misguided Senate bill, mandating prevention measures and bystander training to involve the whole community in eradicating sexual assaults on campuses.
Sub-section 13 of Section 304 already provides civil penalties for any institution that substantially misrepresents the number, location, or nature of the crimes that must be reported. Section 304 tracks the guidance documents released in 2011 and 2014 by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the federal agency charged with enforcing Title IX, a 1972 law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. Sexual violence is prohibited under Title IX, and institutions can lose significant Title IX funding if they fail to respond to sexual violence on campus. So much for civil penalties already on the books.
This recounting of the status quo is a justification for the characterization above that this proposed bill is redundant. Unfortunately, the convoluted way the U.S. Congress phrases a law seems to require degrees in both linguistics and law in order to parse out the essence of the law.
Perhaps that is why Senators failed to note the prior existence of the remedial law they now propose. In addition, any additional civil fines levied on colleges and universities will only be passed on to those paying the already unconscionable tuition bills. It will take more than a law to discourage male bystanders from filming gang rapes of drunk women. It will take more than a law to encourage women to refrain from drinking or partaking of drugs at fraternity parties. It will take more than a law to convince parents looking at colleges with their teenagers to ask questions about provisions for safety on campus.
One can argue whether the “1 in 20” women-sexually-assaulted-on-campus statistic is a true reflection of the problem. One can argue whether once-consensual partners will later cry “rape” when it suits them. If the statistic is 1 in 100 women, or 1 in 100 men, who are sexually assaulted on campus, everyone should still be concerned. If a “victim” is giving false testimony (and research says that only about 2% of allegations of sexual assault are untrue), a thorough investigation should be able to reveal that. The false victim should be disciplined, and the alleged perpetrator publicly cleared of misdoing.
Bottom Line
Here is the situation. The “old” Clery Act Handbook, the “how-to to comply” with the Act, is 300 pages long. The “new” Clery Act Handbook will be even longer when the regulations are released some time later this year. Title IX has been law since 1972. Whether human decency can be instilled by legislation is a philosophical question. However, what is certain is that laws are already on the books with which colleges and universities must comply, to deal with sexual violence on their campuses. Both Title IX and the reauthorized VAWA now spell out the details of that compliance. Congress would do well to look at those laws on the books before throwing the book at them.
This Collegiate Comment is a publication of the KingSpry Higher Education Law Division. It is meant to be informational and does not constitute legal advice.