[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 16 (Wednesday, January 24, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4598-4599]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-01323]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket ID ED-2023-OPE-0207]


Request for Information on Sexual Violence at Educational 
Institutions

AGENCY: Office of Postsecondary Education and Office of Elementary and 
Secondary Education, U.S. Department of Education.

ACTION: Request for information.

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SUMMARY: This notice is a request for information in the form of 
written comments that include information, research, and suggestions 
regarding the prevention and response to sexual violence on campuses of 
educational institutions.

DATES: We must receive your comments by March 11, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Comments must be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking 
Portal at regulations.gov. However, if you require an accommodation or 
cannot otherwise submit your comments via regulations.gov, please 
contact the program contact person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 
CONTACT. The Department will not accept comments by email or by fax. To 
ensure that the Department does not receive duplicate copies, please 
submit your comments only once. Additionally, please include the Docket 
ID at the top of your comments.
    Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov to submit 
your comments electronically. Information on using Regulations.gov, 
including instructions for accessing agency documents, submitting 
comments, and viewing the docket, is available on the site under the 
``FAQ'' tab.

    Privacy Note: The Department's policy for comments received from 
members of the public is to make these submissions available for 
public viewing in their entirety on the Federal eRulemaking Portal 
at www.regulations.gov. Therefore, commenters should be careful to 
include in their comments only information that they wish to make 
publicly available. We encourage, but do not require, that each 
respondent include their name, title, institution or affiliation, 
and the name, title, mailing and email addresses, and telephone 
number of a contact person for the institution or affiliation, if 
any.


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Amanda Miller. Telephone: (202) 453-
6914. You may also email your questions to [email protected], but as 
described above, comments must be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking 
Portal at regulations.gov.
    If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability and 
wish to access telecommunications relay services, please dial 7-1-1.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Background: Section 1314 of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) 
Reauthorization Act of 2022, Public Law 117-103, div. W, 136 Stat. 840, 
936-38 (2022), requires the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of 
Health and Human Services, and the Attorney General to establish a 
joint interagency task force to be known as the ``Task Force on Sexual 
Violence in Education'' (hereinafter the Task Force) to provide 
information and recommendations, solicit information from relevant 
stakeholders, and create a plan to address sexual violence in 
education. The Biden-Harris Administration remains committed to 
preventing and responding to gender-based violence, including sexual 
violence in education, wherever it occurs and in all of its forms.
    Specifically, the Task Force is to provide recommendations to 
educational institutions on: establishing prevention and response 
teams; providing survivor resources, including health care, sexual 
assault kits, sexual assault nurse examiners, culturally responsive and 
inclusive standards of care, trauma-informed services, and access to 
confidential advocacy and support services; best practices on responses 
to and prevention of sexual violence and dating violence; sex 
education, as appropriate, training for school staff and various 
equitable discipline models; and culturally responsive and inclusive 
approaches to supporting survivors. The law defines ``educational 
institution'' as ``an institution of higher education, an elementary 
school, or a secondary school.''
    The VAWA Reauthorization Act also directs the Task Force to solicit 
periodic input from a diverse group of survivors, trauma specialists, 
advocates from national, State, and local anti-sexual violence advocacy 
organizations, institutions of higher education, and other public 
stakeholders. The goal of this request for information is to ensure the 
Task Force is receiving feedback and input from a diverse group of 
stakeholders.
    Solicitation of Comments: When responding to this RFI, please 
address one or more of the following questions. Please note if your 
responses refer to elementary, secondary, or postsecondary educational 
settings, or more than one.
    (1) What factors and best practices should educational institutions 
consider when establishing sexual assault prevention and response 
teams, including for online threats, harassment and intimidation, and 
other forms of technological abuse?
    (2) How can educational institutions best provide survivor 
resources, including health care, sexual assault kits, sexual assault 
nurse examiners, culturally responsive and linguistically inclusive 
standards of care, trauma-informed services, academic supports, and 
access to confidential advocacy and support services?
    (3) What best practices should educational institutions consider 
for responding to and preventing sexual violence and dating violence on 
their campuses, including the online environment, and which may take 
into consideration an institution's educational level, size, and 
resources?
    (4) What factors should be considered as educational institutions 
develop or implement sex education programs, as appropriate, for 
students, training initiatives for school staff in sexual violence 
prevention, and equitably designed and applied discipline models?
    (5) What are culturally responsive and linguistically inclusive 
approaches to supporting survivors, which include consideration of 
race; ethnicity; national origin; limited English proficiency; 
religion; immigration status; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender; 
queer or intersex (LGBTQI+) status; ability;

[[Page 4599]]

disability; socio-economic status; exposure to trauma, and other 
compounding factors?
    (6) What are promising practices for engaging student groups, 
community organizations or families of students in efforts to prevent 
and address sexual violence and dating violence?
    (7) In what ways can the Federal Government support educational 
institutions in improving the prevention of, and response to, sexual 
violence and dating violence, including online threats, harassment and 
intimidation, and other forms of technological abuse?
    If you are aware of any supportive research (qualitative or 
quantitative) or promising practices, please include citations, 
websites, or other information that will enable the Task Force to learn 
more.
    This is a request for information only. This RFI is not a request 
for proposals (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP or a notice inviting 
applications. This RFI does not commit the Department to contract for 
any supply or service whatsoever. Further, we are not seeking proposals 
and will not accept unsolicited proposals. The Department will not pay 
for any information or administrative costs that you may incur in 
responding to this RFI. The documents and information submitted in 
response to this RFI become the property of the U.S. Government and 
will not be returned.
    Accessible Format: By request to the program contact person listed 
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, individuals with disabilities 
can obtain this document in an accessible format. The Department will 
provide the requestor with an accessible format that may include Rich 
Text Format (RTF) or text format (txt), a thumb drive, an MP3 file, 
braille, large print, audiotape, or compact disc, or other accessible 
format.
    Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this 
document is the document published in the Federal Register. You may 
access the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of 
Federal Regulations at www.govinfo.gov. At this site you can view this 
document, as well as all other documents of this Department published 
in the Federal Register, in text or Portable Document Format (PDF). To 
use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at 
the site.
    You may also access documents of the Department published in the 
Federal Register by using the article search feature at 
www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, through the advanced search 
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published 
by the Department.

Nasser Paydar,
Assistant Secretary, Office of Postsecondary Education.
Adam Schott,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Programs, Delegated the 
Authority to Perform the Functions and Duties of the Assistant 
Secretary, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education.
[FR Doc. 2024-01323 Filed 1-23-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P