A Senate committee discussed possible responses to campus sexual assault at a hearing Wednesday. Campus sexual assault has become a key issue across the country.
The current system by which universities and colleges respond to sexual assault has its detractors. In a number of prominent cases, victims and alleged perpetrators alike say that the process by which institutions investigate allegations of sexual assault are opaque and unfair. Colleges and universities, however, are bound to those processes due to federal legislation such as Title IX and the Cleary Act.
“We must work to improve confidence in the judicial and campus systems, which will in turn increase reporting, support survivors, and punish perpetrators of sexual assault on our college campuses,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.). McCaskill and three other senators testified about a new bill that would include legislation to increase support services for students who report being sexually assaulted and provide a framework for colleges and universities to more accurately report the rate of sexual assault on their campuses.
The Campus Accountability and Safety Act (CASA) would require the Department of Education, colleges, and universities to conduct campus climate surveys every two years to assess the prevalence of sexual assault on individual campuses. Funding for the program would be made available through the department. The Department of Education would create a report, which it would make available to Congress and the public. “Because this survey will be standardized, the American public will be able to compare the campus climates of all schools,” said Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.).
In addition, the bill would require that a trained confidential adviser be made available to every student who reports being assaulted, to help connect them with the appropriate offices or necessary resources. The adviser would advise victims on their rights and help them understand the legal and campus reporting process.
Senate witness Mollie Benz Flounlacker, associate vice president for federal relations at the Association of American Universities, voiced some concerns with the confidential adviser component of the proposed bill. She said that she supported having individual advisers but noted that, if they were to act in an investigative or reporting role, that could compromise their confidentiality and potentially lead to them being subpoenaed in a lawsuit.
“Absent clarity in the statute, it’s inevitable that new duties will be assigned to the individual by the Department of Education as they implement the law,” Flounlacker said.
