[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 156 (Thursday, December 2, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2055-E2056]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            CAMPUS SAVE ACT

                                  _____
                                 

                      HON. THOMAS S. P. PERRIELLO

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, December 2, 2010

  Mr. PERRIELLO. Madam Speaker, I recently introduce the ``Campus 
Sexual Violence Elimination Act'' or ``Campus SaVE Act''. This bill 
will help better protect our Nation's college and university students 
from sexual assault and other forms of intimate partner violence.
  Recent events on campuses across the Nation have come as a shocking 
wake-up call to many of us about the issue of dating violence. While 
not often thought of as a college problem, nearly a third, 29 percent, 
of college students reported physically assaulting a dating partner in 
one study by the Family Research Laboratory at the University of New 
Hampshire.
  Sexual assault is also more widespread than often believed. Between 
one-fifth and one-quarter of female undergraduates will be the victim 
of a completed or attempted rape, in nearly all cases by an 
acquaintance or intimate partner, according to the U.S. Department of 
Justice, DOJ, although fewer than five percent report to the 
authorities.
  More than 13 percent of women also reported having been stalked in a 
single school year according to the DOJ.
  The Campus SaVE Act would update 18-year-old provisions in the Jeanne 
Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics 
Act, Clery Act. These longstanding provisions already require sexual 
assault awareness programming and victims' rights, but don't address 
the full range of intimate partner violence or incorporate the latest 
lessons learned about how to successfully prevent and respond to these 
challenges.
  Our bill would amend the Clery Act so that it covers a more inclusive 
range of intimate partner violence including stalking, dating violence, 
sexual violence, or domestic violence. It would also expand the 
education programs institutions must offer to include primary 
prevention and bystander intervention. This will empower the students 
themselves to know how to intervene, and to do so safely, something the 
University of Virginia has led the way in discussing. Violence 
prevention experts believe that this type of bystander intervention is 
a critical piece of the solution because these incidents often aren't 
reported to campus or other officials, and fellow students are in many 
ways the true first responders.
  It would also require a discussion of consent and information about 
the scope of intimate partner violence at each institution.
  One reason these crimes aren't more widely discussed is that all too 
often their victims do not come forward to seek justice or even 
assistance. They feel they will not receive the support they need, or 
even worse that they will be revictimized by a process not set up to 
handle their report properly, according to the victim advocates I 
consulted with. Many end up transferring or leaving school altogether.
  For these reasons, the Campus SaVE Act would also provide for a more 
robust framework of victims' rights in these cases designed to better 
guarantee a supportive structure. Victims would have a right to prompt 
proceedings conducted by officials trained in the issues of sex 
offenses and intimate partner violence.
  The proceedings would also use the preponderance of the evidence 
standard, the standard used in any civil court proceeding across the 
United States, rather than a higher burden such as clear and convincing 
or even the beyond a reasonable doubt. This will guarantee the accused 
significant due process, while not making it more difficult than 
necessary for institutions to effectively respond to threats to campus 
safety.
  Finally, the Campus SaVE Act provides for the U.S. Department of 
Education to collaborate with the U.S. Department of Justice, 
leveraging their experience from administering the Grants to Reduce 
Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking on 
Campus program, to compile and disseminate best practices information. 
While ensuring campuses have the latitude to develop programs that work 
best for their own unique

[[Page E2056]]

communities, this will guarantee institutions have the tools they need 
to develop effective programs without significant experimentation or 
expense.
  I would like to thank the team at Security On Campus, Inc., SOC, the 
national non-profit group founded by Jeanne Clery's parents, Connie and 
Howard, after her rape and murder on her Pennsylvania campus in 1986, 
for their support in developing this legislation and for their full 
endorsement. Liz Seccuro, herself a survivor of campus rape at the 
University of Virginia in 1984, has been especially inspiring in her 
support of our work and I want to commend her for her courage in coming 
forward publicly so that the current generation of students can receive 
the protection she was denied.
  I would also like to thank Kristen Lombardi and Kristen Jones of the 
Center for Public Integrity. Their year-long expose ``Sexual Assault On 
Campus--A Frustrating Search for Justice'' ran earlier this year, along 
with companion segments on NPR, exposing many of the gaps the Campus 
SaVE Act will help to fill.
  Madam Speaker, the scope of intimate partner violence significantly 
undermines the billions of taxpayer dollars we invest in higher 
education. The Campus SaVE Act will help protect this investment, but 
more importantly our most valuable asset--our children and our future. 
College campuses should be a safe and secure place of learning, not a 
place where anyone feels uncomfortable or unsafe.

                          ____________________