[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 22 (Wednesday, February 4, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E199]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       CAMPUS SAFETY ACT OF 2009

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON-LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 3, 2009

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong 
support of H.R. 748, the ``Center to Advance, Monitor, and Preserve 
University Security Safety Act of 2009'' or ``CAMPUS''. I would like to 
thank my colleague Congressman Bobby Scott for introducing this 
important legislation, as well as the Chairman of the Committee on the 
Judiciary, Congressman John Conyers. I urge my colleagues to support 
this legislation.
  Importantly, H.R. 748 would establish a national center for campus 
public safety and employ a collaborative effort with local state and 
federal officials to fight violence on university campuses. This center 
would train agencies to better deal with emergency situations that 
occur on university campuses, helping to eliminate unpreparedness at 
the universities.
  The future of our country sits in our classrooms everyday along with 
those that train them. It is our job as members of Congress to ensure 
that these future leaders and all those involved in molding them will 
be taught in a classroom or lecture hall.
  H.R. 748 is a bill that takes a great step in ensuring that the 
potential that is harbored in our classrooms everyday is protected. The 
events that occurred at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University 
are disastrous examples of why we need more concentrated protection 
efforts implemented by the Federal government. The Virginia Tech 
shooting resulted in the slaying of over 30 members of the Virginia 
Tech family and many others were wounded. The shooting that occurred on 
the campus of Northern Illinois University on February 14, 2008 also 
killed and injured several individuals on the campus. Unfortunately, 
because these events were the first of their kind for the schools, they 
were not fully knowledgeable on how to respond. In my home state of 
Texas, the University of Texas at Austin in 1966 was struck by fear 
when a sniper from atop the university's bell tower struck and killed 
16 people and wounded 31. The large gap in time between these events 
shows the length of inaction by the Congress in establishing a national 
center to protect the young minds in our Universities.
  With the creation of a National Center for Protection of facilities 
of higher education, our country can finally begin to use the knowledge 
gained by officials in all states in conjunction with the Attorney 
General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Secretary of 
Education in a collaborative effort to reduce violence in all higher 
education facilities across the country.
  The CAMPUS Safety Act will create a National Center of Campus Public 
Safety, which will be administered through the Department of Justice. 
The Center will train campus public safety agencies, encourage research 
to strengthen college safety and security, and serve as a clearinghouse 
for the dissemination of relevant campus public safety information. By 
having this information, institutions of higher education will be able 
to easily obtain the best information available on ways to keep 
campuses safe and secure and how to respond in the event of a campus 
emergency.
  The events that have taken place on the campuses of Virginia Tech, 
Northern Illinois, and Texas Universities shows that campus violence is 
not regional nor is it specific to one state and we should not be 
either of these things when fighting against it. That is why we must 
act as the front line in that battle against campus violence by passing 
this legislation and developing a National Center for Campus Public 
Safety. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

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