Senators Reintroduce Legislation to Combat Sexual Assault on Campuses

The Campus Accountability and Safety Act would require schools to survey their students, train campus administrators and increase safety on campuses.

• By Jessica Davis
• April 09, 2019

U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Grassley announced April 2 that they’ve worked with other senators to reintroduce bipartisan legislation for the Campus Accountability and Safety Act. The legislation is designed to combat sexual assault on college campuses by protecting students and increasing accountability and transparency for universities.

The Campus Accountability and Safety Act would change the way colleges report sexual assaults that take place on their campuses, working to protect survivors as well as accused students by ensuring schools have a fair and uniform process for investigations and campus discipline.

Under the act, colleges would be incentivized improve their responses to sexual assault and to protect students. The legislation would create new resources and support services for survivors as well as create new notification requirements for survivors and accused students involved in the campus disciplinary process.

“Sexual assault is pervasive in colleges and universities all over the country, yet Congress has not done nearly enough to address this crisis,” Gillibrand said. “For far too long institutions have gotten away with sweeping this problem under the rug. Students are demanding that Congress take this problem seriously, and we must listen to them. That’s why I am proud to reintroduce my bipartisan Campus Accountability and Safety Act, which would hold colleges and universities accountable and help give survivors the support they need.”

The legislation would specifically do the following:

• Establish new resources and support service on campus for student survivors
• Require fairness and uniformity in the campus disciplinary process
• Ensure minimum training standards for on-campus staff
• Create new transparency requirements
• Ensure coordination with law enforcement
• Establish stiffer penalties for violations

“When something as traumatic as sexual assault occurs on campus, students need a place they can go for support and unbiased information about their rights,” Grassley said. “This bill takes active steps forward to help facilitate communication and support between universities, students and law enforcement, as well as foster a positive sense of community on campus.”

More details on the Campus Accountability and Safety Act can be found here.