Although the University’s Undergraduate Student Government voted against supporting the Safe Campus Act last semster due to its reporting methods for sexual assult on college campuses, similar bills dealing with sexual assult are also under revision by Congress but have received far less critical attention.
Introduced in July 2015, the Safe Campus Act, along with three similar bills, aim to update benchmark higher education institutional policing legislation. Most of the bills are clarifications of definitions and procedure, but one selection from the Safe Campus Act in particular is the point of controversy. It states that institutions of higher education cannot carry out any disciplinary actions or investigations against a student who is the suspect of a sexual assault if the victim does not file a police report.
Procedure differs from institution to institution, but there are cases where the victim of the sexual assault (or similar crime) does not want to file a police report, but still wants to cooperate in an investigation of the suspect on grounds of a code of conduct violation.
The Safe Campus Act would disallow situations like this from happening.
Under Title IX legislation, an investigation still needs to be carried out on university notification of a sexual assault. However, those investigations are not to place blame, but rather help the victim and make sure that the alleged sexual assault was indeed a sexual assault for statistical purposes, specifically for campus crime statistics mandated by the Clery Act.
“If this is the case, then that would be a major shift in direction,” said University Police Captain Michael Campbell about how campus sexual assaults are investigated.
Critics of the bill say sexual assault perpetrators should not go unpunished because of the victim’s want to keep the crime out of the criminal justice system.
USG cited reasons like this in their official resolution against the Safe Campus Act.
“We’re a true constituent body, so we’re not going to make a statement unless we know that the majority of students support it,” said USG President Victor Senn.
The Fair Campus Act, a bill that matches the Safe Campus Act except for reporting methods, is also under revision in Congress. Though it lacks the contested part of the Safe Campus Act, it has not garnered much attention.
Three other bills dealing with campus sexual assault also in the House of Representatives, the SOS Campus Act, the HALT Campus Sexual Violence Act and the Campus Accountability and Safety Act, have all garnered less coverage and analysis from advocates in the media.
Instead, the lobbying history of these bills has been in the spotlight.
Initially, the Safe Campus Act and the Fair Campus Act were being lobbied in the House by the Fraternity and Sorority Political Action Committee, with support of the North American Interfraternity Conference, which some of the Greek organizations at the University are members of.
Many Greek organizations promote advancing sexual assault procedure in favor of the victim. Since the bill’s introduction, the NAIC and other Fraternity and Sorority collectives have either pulled previous support or made official statements in opposition of the Safe Campus Act.
“Fraternities don’t think things through all the time,” said USG President – and former University Interfraternity Council Executive – Victor Senn.
University Interfraternity Council President Greggory Robison declined to comment on the bill when contacted, but expressed a want to start a dialogue about the Safe Campus Act and the University IFC’s stance on the bill.
Despite opposition, the Safe Campus Act is still in the House Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training.
There are still three other bills dealing with campus sexual assault in the House as well: the SOS Campus Act, the HALT Campus Sexual Violence Act and the Campus Accountability and Safety Act. All three have garnered less coverage and analysis from advocates in the media.
