Federal Government Announces New Reporting Rules for Sexual Violence Incidents on Campus

The U.S. Department of Education has issued a set of proposed regulations which it hopes will curb sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking on college campuses. Under the proposed regulations colleges would be required to compile statistics for incidents of dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking in addition to current requirements covering the reporting of rape and sexual assault. According to the Department of Education, “these data will provide a better picture of the extent to which these forms of abuse occur on our campuses and will better equip colleges, advocates, and policymakers to address these issues.”

Another change in the new proposed regulations is a requirement that colleges adopt the FBI’s more inclusive definition of rape. Also colleges must ensure that disciplinary hearings are prompt, fair, and impartial and protect victim confidentiality. Colleges and universities must comply with federal requirements for programs to prevent dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. These include prevention and awareness programs and information campaigns.

Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education said that the “department has the responsibility to ensure that our higher education institutions are creating safe environments for students and are appropriately reporting crimes that occur on or near their campuses. These new rules strengthen schools’ capacity to provide safer college campuses for students and to keep everyone better informed about campus security policies and procedures.”