[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1493 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1493

 To amend section 485(f)(1)(F) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to 
  provide for the disclosure of all criminal incidents that manifest 
     evidence of prejudice based on race, gender, religion, sexual 
                 orientation, ethnicity, or disability.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            November 9, 1997

Mr. Torricelli introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
         referred to the Committee on Labor and Human Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend section 485(f)(1)(F) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to 
  provide for the disclosure of all criminal incidents that manifest 
     evidence of prejudice based on race, gender, religion, sexual 
                 orientation, ethnicity, or disability.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. DISCLOSURE.

    (a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the ``Campus Hate 
Crimes Right to Know Act of 1997''.
    (b) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) the incidence of violence on college campuses based on 
        race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or 
        disability poses a serious national problem;
            (2) such violence disrupts the tranquility and safety of 
        campuses and is deeply divisive;
            (3) hate crimes include crimes in which the perpetrator 
        intentionally selects a victim because of the actual or 
        perceived race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, 
        ethnicity, or disability of the victim;
            (4) existing Federal reporting requirements only require 
        colleges and universities to report hate crimes that result in 
        murder, rape, or aggravated assault;
            (5) existing reporting requirements are inadequate to deal 
        with the problem of hate crimes since the vast majority of hate 
        crimes that occur on college campuses do not result in murder, 
        rape, or aggravated assault;
            (6) existing reporting requirements are inadequate because 
        the requirements do not require colleges and universities to 
        report hate crimes that target victims because of the victims' 
        gender or disability;
            (7) omitting certain hate crimes from official campus crime 
        reports may result in a false sense of security among students 
        and apathy from campus officials;
            (8) omitting certain hate crimes from official campus crime 
        reports deprives students and parents of the students of vital 
        information necessary to protect the students against such 
        crimes and to make informed decisions in choosing a college or 
        university;
            (9) requiring postsecondary institutions to report all hate 
        crimes that occur on their campuses will provide students and 
        parents of the students with vital information so that the 
        students may better protect themselves against such crimes; and
            (10) requiring postsecondary institutions to report all 
        hate crimes that occur on their campuses will encourage college 
        officials to raise awareness about such crimes and develop 
        programs and strategies to combat such crimes.
    (c) Amendment.--Section 485(f)(1)(F) of the Higher Education Act of 
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1092(f)(1)(F)) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating clauses (i) through (vi) as subclauses 
        (I) through (VI), respectively;
            (2) by striking ``Statistics'' and inserting ``(i) 
        Statistics''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(ii) Statistics concerning the occurrence on campus, 
        during the most recent calendar year, and during the 2 
        preceding calendar years for which data are available, of all 
        criminal incidents that manifest evidence of prejudice based on 
        actual or perceived race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, 
        ethnicity, or disability that are reported to campus security 
        authorities or local police agencies. The statistics shall be 
        collected and reported according to category of prejudice.''.
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