Legislation introduced in the Senate last Thursday could broaden federal laws addressing sexual violence on college campuses.
If the bill is signed into law, the University would have to expand its sexual assault policies "to include mandatory prevention education for all students," said Margaret Mikkelsen, executive director of the Sexual Assault Resource Agency, a community organization serving residents of Charlottesville and neighboring counties.
That education would have to cover domestic violence in addition to sexual violence, Mikkelsen said.
The Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act was introduced by Senators Robert Casey, Jr., D-Pa., and Patty Murray, D-Wash. Among other provisions, the legislation would require colleges and universities to include incidents of sexual violence in their annual crime reports, to offer educational programs about sexual violence prevention, to define consent and to provide victims of sexual violence with a written summary of their rights to disciplinary proceedings and campus support, such as changing classes or dormitory assignments to avoid an alleged assailant.
The bill would amend the Jeanne Clery Act, the federal law requiring colleges and universities which receive federal funding to collect and disclose information regarding crime on or near their campuses.
The Clery Act "outlines generally what campuses must do regarding sex offenses, but there isn't a lot of detail," Casey spokesperson Ian Jannetta said in an email.
Because the current text of the Clery Act includes few specifics, "schools were able to continue to not provide students with the support that they needed," said Sarah Martino, chair of the board of directors of Students Active for Ending Rape.
Last Thursday's legislation provides "a greater level of detail to ensure that students are given the information they need to protect themselves and to get the help they need if they have become victims," Jannetta said. "April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, making it an ideal time to pause and recognize the victims of sexual assault and then step up and take action to address issues like sexual assault, domestic and dating violence and stalking."
Alison Kiss, executive director of Security on Campus, a nonprofit advocacy group, said her organization and others, including the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network and SAFER, provided Casey with feedback during the bill's drafting.
She called the legislation "an exciting progression."
"It's the first time the sexual assault policy piece of the Clery Act will be amended in 19 years," Kiss said. "It'll increase transparency of [policies and procedures regarding] sexual violence on campus, as well as domestic violence, dating violence and stalking."
With regard to transparency, Mikkelsen said the clarity of the University's sexual assault policy "could be greatly improved to make it more accessible to students."
"As it's written, I think it's a very confusing policy," she said.
Martino said the sexual assault policies of many schools do not explain to students "exactly what will happen, exactly what their rights are [and] what their options are" when reporting incidents of sexual violence.
"[The bill] requires schools to make transparent what their procedures are and what they guarantee students, so that they are then accountable to following through on those procedures and those support systems," Martino said.
The bill also extends the Clery Act to include dating violence, domestic violence and stalking, rather than just sexual assault.
"Women in college are stalked at a rate that's 12 percent higher than the general public," Kiss said. "Unfortunately, if you do want to stalk someone on campus, it is a relatively easy environment to do that because it's such a routine culture."
Martino said another aim of the legislation is to increase bystander education and responsibility.
"Bystander education involves teaching students how they can step in when they see behavior that could potentially lead to violence ... teaching students to speak up to change the behavioral norms that allow sexual assault to continue," Martino said.
Kiss added that "mandatory prevention education on campuses" is one of the bill's main goals.
The University does not offer strictly moderated prevention education, Mikkelsen said.
"That's something we'd really like to see at the school," Mikkelsen said. "There's no way currently to make sure every student participates."
She also said education efforts should be repeated rather than held a single time and that efforts "need to focus not on victim behavior but on perpetrator behavior."
Jannetta said the bill had been referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
"As a member of that committee, Senator Casey hopes to be able to move the bill forward to the full Senate for consideration," Jannetta said. "This is an ongoing and underreported epidemic that must be addressed"
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