118 HRES 1426 IH: Expressing support for the designation of September 2024 as National Campus Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
U.S. House of Representatives
2024-09-06
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Whereas colleges are now receiving students in person for the academic year;Whereas freshmen and sophomores in college are at a greater risk of being sexually assaulted than juniors or seniors;Whereas college students are at a higher risk of sexual assault during the first few months of school, with more than 50 percent of college sexual assaults occurring in either August, September, October, or November;Whereas many college students are survivors of incapacitated assault
, in which they are sexually assaulted while drugged, drunk, passed out, or otherwise incapacitated;Whereas these survivors often know their attackers;Whereas less than 12 percent of rapes and attempted rapes of college students are reported to campus authorities or local law enforcement;Whereas college sexual assault survivors are likely to tell someone they know, most often a friend, about their experience;Whereas over 25 percent of college sexual assault survivors fear reprisal by the perpetrator;Whereas, approximately 5 percent of college men account for 90 to 95 percent of the rapes on college campuses;Whereas many college sexual assault survivors fear poor treatment by campus or law enforcement authorities, or even lack knowledge of the reporting process;Whereas, approximately 10 percent of colleges still do not allow confidential reporting of sexual assaults to campus authorities;Whereas 22 percent of colleges provide no sexual assault response training for members of their faculty and staff;Whereas, approximately 41 percent of colleges have not conducted a single sexual assault investigation in the last 5 years;Whereas most colleges fail to provide access to a specially trained Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner;Whereas law enforcement officials at 30 percent of colleges receive no training on how to respond to reports of sexual violence;Whereas more than 70 percent of colleges do not have protocols regarding how the institution and local law enforcement should work together to respond to sexual violence;Whereas 33 percent of colleges fail to provide training to dispel rape myths
to persons adjudicating sexual assault claims;Whereas 43 percent of the Nation’s largest colleges have students assisting in adjudicating sexual assault cases, which creates privacy and conflict-of-interest concerns;Whereas 22 percent of colleges allow athletic department oversight of sexual violence cases involving student athletes;Whereas many college sexual assault survivors experience confusion over how to report a sexual assault, are unsure of acceptable standards of sexual conduct and definitions of rape and sexual assault, and fear punishment for activities preceding some sexual assaults, such as underage drinking;Whereas 21 percent of the Nation’s largest private colleges report not independently investigating all claims of sexual assault that they conveyed to the Department of Education;Whereas only approximately 5 percent of the perpetrators of college sexual assaults are permanently expelled;Whereas, approximately 10 percent of reported college rape cases result in criminal charges against the alleged perpetrator;Whereas survivors of campus sexual assaults are more likely to have their lives disrupted, such as by changing a college major, changing campus housing, and dropping a class, than the average student;Whereas, approximately 7 States require colleges to adopt affirmative consent policies; andWhereas September 2024, when many students begin or return to college, is an appropriate month to designate as National Campus Sexual Assault Awareness Month: Now, therefore, be itThat the House of Representatives supports the designation of National Campus Sexual Assault Awareness Month.