Nov 13, 2015
First and foremost, I want to thank you for your commitment to victims of sexual assault on our college campuses. As a former sex crimes prosecutor, I’ve sat with and at times, cried with victims who have had to relive their painful experience – one of the many reasons this remains one of the most underreported crimes.
That’s why Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) and I have worked together for nearly two years to craft legislation that will increase reporting and strengthen protections for victims of sexual assault on campus. Our bill would professionalize the campus adjudication and investigation process and create historic transparency requirements for schools in the form of a student survey on sexual assault.
We are also working together to ensure the ill-named “SAFE Campus Act” doesn’t make it through Congress – and your work is critical to that effort. When we learned the national groups that represent fraternity and sorority organizations were supporting this bill, and not supporting our bipartisan Campus Accountability and Safety Act, we immediately expressed our disappointment in their decision to lobby on behalf of a bill that would undermine and weaken the authority of colleges and universities to adjudicate incidents of sexual assault on their campuses.
Throughout my many visits to campuses, I’ve met with fraternity and sorority members and in those discussions I was left with the impression that campus organizations were interested in solving this problem in a way that encourages reporting, supports victims and holds schools accountable for failure to act to protect students. I am hopeful that through your efforts, and the efforts of other concerned students, these groups will reconsider their support for this bill.
It’s voices like yours that make all the difference and we’ll continue to make sure they’re heard. Thank you for your work and dedication to this issue.
You can encourage your lawmakers to support our bipartisan legislation by using #PassCASAct online.
U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill
That’s why Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) and I have worked together for nearly two years to craft legislation that will increase reporting and strengthen protections for victims of sexual assault on campus. Our bill would professionalize the campus adjudication and investigation process and create historic transparency requirements for schools in the form of a student survey on sexual assault.
We are also working together to ensure the ill-named “SAFE Campus Act” doesn’t make it through Congress – and your work is critical to that effort. When we learned the national groups that represent fraternity and sorority organizations were supporting this bill, and not supporting our bipartisan Campus Accountability and Safety Act, we immediately expressed our disappointment in their decision to lobby on behalf of a bill that would undermine and weaken the authority of colleges and universities to adjudicate incidents of sexual assault on their campuses.
Throughout my many visits to campuses, I’ve met with fraternity and sorority members and in those discussions I was left with the impression that campus organizations were interested in solving this problem in a way that encourages reporting, supports victims and holds schools accountable for failure to act to protect students. I am hopeful that through your efforts, and the efforts of other concerned students, these groups will reconsider their support for this bill.
It’s voices like yours that make all the difference and we’ll continue to make sure they’re heard. Thank you for your work and dedication to this issue.
You can encourage your lawmakers to support our bipartisan legislation by using #PassCASAct online.
U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill
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