A bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Thursday released a bill meant to fight sexual assault on college campuses. The “Campus Accountability and Safety Act” bears the same name as one introduced last summer by many of the same senators, and calls for many of the same requirements for campuses, including:
- The designation of confidential advisers to arrange support services for victims of sexual assault.
- Specialized training for everyone who handles campus rape cases.
- A biennial survey of students, the results of which would be published online.
- A rule stating that institutions that violate the terms of the bill could face the loss of up to 1 percent of their operating budgets.
“This strengthened, bipartisan bill is a reflection of the valuable input we heard from survivors, advocates, and universities, whose feedback has turned this legislation into smarter policy,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat and sponsor of the bill, in a news release. “To truly curb these crimes, we’ve got to have a road map for colleges and universities to increase responsiveness when crimes occur, better protect and empower students, and establish better-informed guidelines that actually have some teeth. That’s what this legislation aims to accomplish, and I’m confident we can get it passed.”
The introduction of the previous bill came just before Congress entered its August recess, with little time to push it through both legislative chambers. A bipartisan group of lawmakers said in a news release on Thursday that they intended to introduce a companion bill in the House of Representatives soon.
For more, see this Chronicle article.
