A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has introduced legislation to hold campus leaders accountable for sexual abuse that happens on their watch.
Within a year the university lost two chief executives — Lou Anna K. Simon, sank by the scathing, heart-rending testimony of the sports doctor’s scores of victims, and John M. Engler, whose interim presidency ended amid a backlash over his bare-knuckled tactics.
The bill, the Accountability of Leaders in Education to Report Title IX Investigations Act, or the Alert Act for short, was introduced on Thursday. It would require college and university presidents to certify annually that they have reviewed all incidents of sexual misconduct reported to their campus Title IX coordinator, and that they have not interfered with investigations of those incidents.
The bill was introduced by Sen. Debbie A. Stabenow, Democrat of Michigan; Sen. Gary C. Peters, Democrat of Michigan; and Sen. John Cornyn, Republican of Texas. They said they had developed the measure in response to Michigan State University’s mishandling of allegations of sexual abuse against Larry Nassar, who was recently sentenced for molesting hundreds of girls and women, and Pennsylvania State University’s mishandling of alleged sexual abuse by Jerry Sandusky, who is currently serving a long prison term for molesting boys.
“In both the Nassar and Sandusky cases, university leaders failed to take action on or even claimed they were unaware of reports of sexual abuse by university employees, despite the fact that official Title IX or external investigations had been conducted,” according to a news release announcing the legislation.
This selection of articles from The Chronicle’s archives looks back on the Jerry Sandusky scandal and its fallout at Pennsylvania State University.
The bill would require at least one member of a federally funded college or university’s board and the president, or an equivalent position such as a chancellor, to submit an annual certification to the secretary of education that they have reviewed all cases and that they have not “inappropriately influenced” an investigation.
“This bill is just one step we can take to make sure all universities take sexual abuse more seriously and that their leadership is held publicly accountable,” Senator Stabenow said in a written statement.
Senator Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, echoed those comments.
“University officials must be responsible stewards of students’ trust, especially when they come forward with unthinkable allegations of abuse,” he said in the news release. “This legislation would ensure reports of sexual misconduct against campus employees have been thoroughly reviewed by university leadership.”
Adam Harris is a breaking-news reporter. Follow him on Twitter @AdamHSays or email him at adam.harris@chronicle.com.
