NEWSFLASH: Congresswoman Announces Plan for New Campus Rape Legislation
Sexual assault is rampant on college campuses across the U.S. As we wrote in the winter/spring 2014 issue of Ms., one in five women students will be assaulted during her post-secondary career.
The good news is that lawmakers are taking action to stop campus rape: Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) announced earlier this month plans for federal legislation that would require annual campus surveys, more funding for federal investigators and reports revealing the results of campus investigations.
“The prevalence of sexual assault on campuses is an epidemic,” Speier said. “It’s going to take money, resources, enforcement and a dramatic change in the culture [to fix it].”
Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) have also taken up the charge for victims of campus rape by asking for more funding for the Clery Act of 1990, which requires post-secondary schools receiving federal financial aid to disclose crimes committed on campus.
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