Urge the United States House of Representatives, the United States Senate, and President Obama to pass the Campus SaVE Act (S.834/H.R.2016).

What is the Campus SaVE Act?

The Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act a.k.a. the Campus SaVE Act, (S.834/H.R.2016), sponsored by U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) and U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY 14), is a bill that will amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to improve education and prevention related to campus sexual violence, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking. The Campus SaVE Act, (S.834), is designed to combat the problem of sexual violence on college campuses and, will close a serious gap in the law by requiring colleges and universities to clearly spell out their policies regarding sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking.

The Problem

Sexual assaults, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking are serious problems on college campuses. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 20 to 25 percent of female undergraduates will be the victim of sexual assault or attempted sexual assault this year and in nearly all cases it will be by an acquaintance.

Between 20 and 25 percent of female students will experience some form of sexual assault during their years at an institution of higher education, and nearly 3 percent of all such women become victims of either attempted or completed rape in each 9-month academic year.

Of these cases, between 85 and 90 percent of reported sexual assaults against female students at institutions of higher education are perpetrated by someone known to the victim, and nearly half of such sexual assaults occur on a date.

However, less than 5 percent of rapes or attempted rapes of female students at institutions of higher education are reported to campus authorities or law enforcement. In 2009, only 2,578 forcible sex offenses and 68 non-forcible sex offenses that occurred on the campus of a 2-year or 4-year institution of higher education were reported, among 8,476 2-year and 4-year public and private institutions of higher education.

Only 1/3 of the institutions of higher education in the United States report their crime statistics correctly, resulting in statistics in which instances of sexual assault have been misclassified and underrepresented. Less than half of all institutions of higher education in the United States offer any sexual assault training, and such training is often provided only for resident advisers and security officers.

In fact, only thirty-six percent of institutions of higher education offer safety training that includes teaching students how to prevent and defend against sexual assault, and less than 20 percent of institutions of higher education educate students about acquaintance rape, and less than half of 4-year public institutions do so.

In addition, multiple studies indicate that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students are more likely to experience violence and threats of violence, including sexual violence, than their non-LGBT peers.

The Solution

Students are more likely to report a sexual assault when they know how to report a sexual assault and how a school will respond if such a report is made, yet fewer than half of the institutions of higher education in the United States have written policies for filing criminal charges and campus reports related to sexual assault.

According to campus administrators, the reporting of sexual assaults would be facilitated if institutions of higher education provided services for victims, written law enforcement response procedures, new student orientation, and campus-wide publicity about past crimes.

What will the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act a.k.a. the Campus SaVE Act do?

The Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act a.k.a. the Campus SaVE Act, (S.834), is a bill that will amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to improve education and prevention related to campus sexual violence, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking.

The Campus SaVE Act will close a serious gap in the law by requiring colleges and universities to clearly spell out their policies regarding sexual assault and intimate partner violence. The Campus SaVe Act will also increase awareness and prevention of these acts of violence by requiring transparency of information, prevention programs, assistance for victims and clear institutional judicial proceedings to promote accountability.

The bill amends Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require each institution of higher education participating in a title IV program, except foreign schools, to:

• Include in its annual security report a statement of policy regarding its domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking awareness and prevention programs and the procedures it follows when such an offense occurs.

• Explain in writing students’ rights anytime a student reports being a victim of sexual violence, including stalking, dating or domestic violence. This would include a victim’s right to notify law enforcement if the victim chooses, to receive help from the school to report the incident, to seek a protective order from a local court, and to change residence, class schedule and travel arrangements as necessary to preserve the victim’s safety.

• Explain to students the school’s obligation to help enforce those protective orders.

• Start teaching bystander education – a prevention strategy that focuses on teaching male and female students alike that they can prevent sexual assaults and that they have a responsibility to do so.

• Direct the Secretary of Education to seek the Attorney General's counsel regarding the development, and dissemination to schools, of best practices for preventing and responding to sex offenses and other forms of intimate partner violence.

What can you do to get the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act a.k.a. the Campus SaVE Act (S.834/H.R.2016) passed?

Please write to and/or call your U.S. Representatives and Senators and President Obama tell them to pass the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act a.k.a. the Campus SaVE Act (S.834/H.R.2016). Also ask your U.S. Representatives and Senators to co-sponsor the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act a.k.a. the Campus SaVE Act (S.834/H.R.2016). In addition ask that President Obama sign it into law.

Also please sign the petition below.