[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 176 (Tuesday, October 31, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1458-E1459]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





   ANNE HEDGEPETH: TESTIMONY BEFORE THE BIPARTISAN TASK FORCE TO END 
                            SEXUAL VIOLENCE

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ANN M. KUSTER

                            of new hampshire

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 31, 2017

  Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the 
following:

       On behalf of the more than 170,000 bipartisan members and 
     supporters, over 1,000 branches, and almost 800 college and 
     university partners of the American Association of University 
     Women (AAUW), I want to thank you for inviting me to testify 
     at today's roundtable on the topic of ``Promoting Healthy 
     Relationships in K-12 Education and Preventing and Responding 
     to Sexual Violence on College Campuses.''
       AAUW is the nation's leading voice promoting equity and 
     education for women and girls. Since our founding in 1881, 
     AAUW members have examined and taken positions on the 
     fundamental issues of the day--educational, social, economic, 
     and political. As early as 1945, AAUW was studying the impact 
     of sex discrimination on college campuses. In 1972, we were 
     instrumental not only in winning passage of Title IX but also 
     in securing the subsequent regulations to aid compliance with 
     the law. Today AAUW continues to fight for gender equity in 
     education through research, legal case support, fellowships 
     and grants, and advocacy.
       When education environments are hostile due to sexual 
     harassment, assault, or violence, students cannot learn and 
     end up missing out on true educational opportunities. AAUW's 
     own research reveals that two-thirds of college students 
     experience sexual harassment and nearly half of students in 
     grades 7 through 12 face sexual harassment. In addition, many 
     studies have found that around 20 percent of women are 
     targets of attempted or completed sexual assault while they 
     are college students.
       Recently, AAUW has taken a look at what information schools 
     collect and report regarding the number of incidents 
     experienced by students. We have concerns about the continued 
     underreporting of sexual harassment and violence reveled in 
     our analyses and what this tells us about the lack of 
     progress educational institutions have made in removing 
     barriers for survivors to come forward.
       With regards to higher education, AAUW has examined the 
     data required by the Clery Act. Our findings indicate that 
     the annual statistics collected by colleges and universities 
     still do not tell the full story of sexual violence on 
     campus. Eighty-nine percent of college campuses disclosed 
     zero reported incidences of rape in 2015. With about 11,000 
     campuses providing annual crime data, an overwhelming 
     majority of campuses certified that in 2015 they did not 
     receive a single report of rape. In addition, for 2015 about 
     9 percent of campuses disclosed a reported incident of 
     domestic violence, around 10 percent disclosed a reported 
     incident of dating violence, and about 13 percent of campuses 
     disclosed a reported incident of stalking. So in each of 
     these categories as well, most campuses did not disclose any 
     reported incidents in 2015. Among the main or primary 
     campuses of colleges and universities with enrollment of at 
     least 250 students, 73 percent disclosed zero rape reports in 
     2015.
       A similar trend is present in K-12 schools. Just this week 
     AAUW released additional analysis of the 2013-14 data from 
     the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) to get a picture of 
     where sexual harassment in public schools is being reported. 
     In our analysis we specifically examined public schools whose 
     students include those enrolled in grades 7 through 12. In 
     analyzing the CRDC data we found that nationally, 79 percent 
     of these schools disclosed zero reported incidents of sexual 
     harassment. The rate of reporting varied across states, from 
     Florida and Hawaii, where 98 percent of schools reported zero 
     incidents of sexual harassment, to Vermont, where only 46 
     percent of schools reported zero incidents.
       Contrast that to findings from AAUW's groundbreaking study, 
     Crossing the Line, which found that nearly half (48 percent) 
     of students surveyed had experienced some form of sexual 
     harassment in the past school year, with nearly 9 in 10 (87 
     percent) saying it had had a negative impact on them. The 
     extraordinarily high number of zeros at both the K through 12 
     and higher education levels suggests that some students 
     continue to feel uncomfortable coming forward to report such 
     incidents. This should be a cause for concern for all 
     schools. Our educational institutions must take an honest 
     look at their processes: Do they facilitate accurate data 
     collection, welcome reporting, and provide resources and 
     training to support survivors? Respond fairly and promptly to 
     incidents and prevent their recurrence? If not, reforms must 
     be made.


                         Prevention is Critical

       First and foremost it is important that schools commit to 
     preventing sexual harassment and violence before it occurs. 
     As the CDC recommends, a comprehensive approach to prevention 
     focuses on several strategies that together have an impact. 
     These strategies include, ``promoting social norms that 
     protect against violence; teaching skills to prevent SV; 
     providing opportunities, both economic and social, to empower 
     and support girls and women; creating protective 
     environments; and supporting victims/survivors to lessen 
     harms.'' Several evidence-based programs support this 
     approach and can be utilized in schools.


                            School Response

       Schools must also work to end sexual harassment violence by 
     implementing a prompt and fair response to incidents, as 
     required by federal law. Doing this can help contribute to 
     the change necessary to end sexual harassment and violence in 
     schools. Several federal laws play an important role in 
     shaping schools' responses to incidents.
       Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is the federal 
     law that prohibits sex discrimination in education. This 
     includes protecting all students from sexual harassment and 
     sexual violence regardless of who the harasser may be. And 
     Title IX applies to all education programs, including both K-
     12 schools and institutions of higher education. Title IX has 
     long required schools to evaluate their current practices, 
     adopt and publish a policy against sex discrimination, and 
     implement grievance procedures providing for prompt and 
     equitable resolution of student and employee discrimination 
     complaints. Under Title IX, schools are required to eliminate 
     sexual harassment and sexual violence, prevent its 
     recurrence, and address its effects.
       The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and 
     Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act) requires colleges and 
     universities who participate in federal financial aid 
     programs to disclose campus crime statistics and security 
     information. Every school provides this information publicly. 
     Thanks to updates to the Clery Act in the Violence Against 
     Women Reauthorization Act of 2013, schools are now required 
     to report crime statistics (on rape, domestic violence, 
     dating violence, and stalking), update procedures following 
     an incident of sexual violence, and provide prevention and 
     bystander intervention training to all students and 
     employees. These new requirements are separate and apart from 
     the long-standing obligations that schools have under Title 
     IX. These laws can work together to ensure that students have 
     the information they need regarding campus safety, as well as 
     a clear course of action when sexual violence occurs.
       While Title IX remains the law of the land and students 
     continue to have protection from sexual harassment and 
     violence in schools, AAUW is disappointed that the Department 
     of Education has recently withdrawn the 2011 Dear Colleague 
     Letter on Sexual Violence as well as the 2014 Questions and 
     Answers on Title IX and Sexual Violence. Both were critical 
     guidance tools schools requested to clarify their 
     responsibilities under Title IX when responding to sexual 
     violence. In their place, a new, less robust Questions and 
     Answers guidance document is to be used. This is a blatant 
     rollback from the strong and much-needed guidance that was in 
     place. This ever-changing landscape could potentially sow 
     confusion for schools, administrators and staff, students, 
     parents, and communities. The new interim guidance was also 
     issued following an open comment period where the Department 
     of Education heard from thousands of stakeholder including 
     more than 10,000 AAUW advocates urging the protection of 
     Title IX. The department's willingness to ignore the 
     overwhelming support for Title IX, its regulations, and prior 
     guidance is proof that the agenda was not to listen and take 
     into account input from the community but rather to move 
     forward with a predetermined plan of action.
       AAUW looks forward to weighing in as the Department of 
     Education engages in its stated rulemaking process. In the 
     meantime we continue to work with schools to ensure that 
     students' civil rights are upheld. Congress also has the 
     opportunity to continue to drive progress on the important 
     issue of ending sexual harassment and violence in schools. 
     AAUW urges Representatives to support legislation including, 
     but not limited to, the Gender Equity in Education Act, the 
     Title IX Protection Act, the Hold Accountable and Lend 
     Transparency Act, the Safe Schools Improvement Act, and the 
     Student Non-Discrimination Act. In addition, Congress should 
     fund prevention education through the Rape Prevention & 
     Education Program (RPE), administered by the CDC Injury 
     Center, at the Senate approved levels for FY18. Increase 
     funding for the Student Support and Academic Enrichment 
     Grants, administered by the Department of Education. Congress 
     should also continue to support the Civil Rights Data 
     Collection and Clery Act data collection so that students, 
     parents, administrators, and community members can continue 
     to monitor the prevalence of sexual harassment and violence 
     in schools.
       Thank you for the opportunity to participate in today's 
     roundtable discussion. AAUW looks forward to working with the 
     Bipartisan Task Force to End Sexual Violence on these 
     critical issues.

[[Page E1459]]

  

                          ____________________