Proposed changes to federal laws may affect the way universities and colleges deal with reports of sexual assault and how much information they make public.
Security on Campus, a non-profit organization that focuses on campus crime prevention nationwide, unveiled the Campus Sexual Assault Free Environment (SAFE) Blueprint on April 16, hoping to make enhancements to the federal Jeanne Clery Act and Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments. The laws require a disclosure of basic information about sexual assaults that occur on college campuses and gender equity at educational institutions, respectively.
“Where we want to go with this initiative is culture change — we want to foster an environment where sexual assault … is not accepted,” said S. Daniel Carter, public policy director for Security on Campus.
The new proposals include an annual report of the number of student and employee sexual assault hearings, as well as their respective outcomes and sanctions.
At Penn, the Division of Public Safety currently releases the block on which a sexual assault occurred in its publicly available crime log. Prior to Oct. 2008, however, sexual assaults were listed as “confidential” out of concern for victim privacy.
Carter said SAFE was “carefully crafted” with privacy in mind. “This provision doesn’t talk about disclosing anything that will personally identify a victim,” he said, adding that ensured privacy will make students more comfortable to report sexual assault.
Kristen Lombardi, the study’s lead investigator, wrote in an e-mail that at the schools she has visited, “having the option to report anonymously helped [victims] come forward.”
DPS spokeswoman Stef Cella wrote in an e-mail that she could not comment on the new proposals, as “everything is still in the beginning stages and [DPS is] still digesting the recommendations and suggestions.”
“Penn is proud of its efforts to comply with the Clery Act and puts significant financial and staffing resources into campus security, including security surrounding issues of sexual assault,” University spokesman Ron Ozio wrote in an e-mail.
Ozio also stated that Penn will be “monitoring developments in Washington and elsewhere for ways to be even more effective in its job of maintaining a safe environment for our students, faculty, staff and neighbors.”
The SAFE Blueprint also outlines enhanced education on sexual assault, accommodations for sexual assault victims and a reformed enforcement of the Clery Act and Title IX.
The blueprint was constructed after the release of a report from the Center for Public Integrity in February titled “Sexual Assault on Campus,” Carter said. “We had anecdotal info, we knew there was a problem, but we didn’t have the comprehensive information that their investigation was able to compile.”
“[Colleges] are trying to track this problem on their campuses in the most accurate way, which also sends a message,”
Lombardi wrote.
The report also found, through a survey of 130 colleges and universities receiving federal aid to combat sexual violence from 2003 to 2008, students found responsible for sexual assault were only expelled 10 to 25 percent of the time.
Though she could not attest as to whether SAFE “tackles everything,” Lombardi wrote that “it seems an important step toward ending the pervasive and unyielding problem of campus sexual assault. The status quo doesn’t seem to be working well, at least.”
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