Transcripts For CSPAN2 Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20240622

Now, mr. President on an entirely different matter, the ongoing revelations about planned parenthood are more than just disturbing. They literally shock the conscience. A democratic colleague called them quote very troubling. End quote. Extremely troubling and highly troubling. Next week every member of this party will have a chance to join us in reaffirming the senates commitment to genuine compassion and to Womens Health. We introduced legislation last night that would ensure taxpayer dollars for Womens Health are spent on Womens Health. Not a scandalplagued political lobbying giant. Its a simple choice. Senators can either vote to protect Womens Health or they can vote to protect subsidies for a Political Group mired in scandal. I know planned parenthoods entrenched lobbyists have been close allies of democrats in recent years but this moment calls for senators to rise higher and to think bigger. Lets not filibuster Womens Health in order to protect special subsidies for one scandalplagued political organization. Why dont we join together instead to bring something positive for the American People from a terrible situation. Mr. Reid mr. President . The presiding officer the democratic leader. Mr. Reid the republican legislation to attack Womens Health is disguised as a way to help women. Youd have to look long and hard to find those people who are being taken care of across the country today because of programs that allow them to go to someone that knows what theyre talking about when theyre concerned about their fertility, concerned about Birth Control and the myriad of other problems that happen as women go through life. The republican bill pretends to be for Womens Health, but it would prohibit federal funds to go to an organization that is the health care backbone for american women during their lives. In fact, its the only health care that a significant number of women get. About 30 of women thats their health care. So you can disguise this by having fancy titles to the legislation any way you want. This is an attack on Womens Health. Now its really stunning to me that those 16 people running for president are out there theyre going after, of course, as we know theyre going after immigration. Theyre going after not only immigration generally but specifically. These young men and women who came to america and the face of this picture in nevada is a woman named astrid silva who came here as a little girl in a boat with her mother with her little doll and rosary beads that she didnt understand. A little, little girl. She knew of no other country. And what do the republicans want to do . Deport astrid silva a woman who finally, because of the courageous action of president obama, because the republicans refused to do anything on immigration, allowed this woman to get a drivers license to fly in an airplane for the first time, to be able to go to the airport without fear of being arrested. They want to do away with that. But thats not enough. They want to most of them want to privatize Social Security or change it in some significant way. Led by one president s son one president s brother who basically said weve got to change medicare as he was speaking to the koch brothers. Were working here trying to get exim bank that affects the lives of 165,000 working americans. Most of the republicans want to get rid of that, and now the program is out of sync. Its expired. The environment dont worry about it. It is fine. We have ice caps, an ice cap melting in the arctic. Dont worry about it. We have the worst fires in the history of alaska because of climate change. Dont worry about it. Its only five million acres burned this summer so far. The droughts thats affecting all across america but especially in the west, its so bad, mr. President so bad in the west that in the sierras there are bears who dont even hibernate anymore. Its not cold enough. In New Hampshire moose are dying. About a third of them are dead because of flees and ticks. Why . Because its not cold enough to kill them anymore and so these little pests are ravaging these huge animals. But i could go on, but im going to stop other than say in addition to all that, now theyre after Womens Health. So i hope that no one thinks that the pretty posters and the fancy words is not i hope they understand that it is still, no matter how you packagecommittee. It is two hours and ten minutes. The Senate Committee on health education, labor and pensions will come to order. Good morning. Todays hearing marks the committee seventh congress on the reauthorization of the education act. We will be discussing Sexual Assault on College Campuses this morning and legislative proposals aimed at lessening this crime and providing justice for the survivors and the allege alleged perpetrators. Before we begin i would like to share a brief stylite from chairman Lamar Alexander who asked me to read the following. I asked senator collins to chair the hearing because i have to go to a funeral for a friend. The senator worked at the university in bangor maine so she brings valuable points to the discussion. It is weird reading what someone is saying about you. I thank her for doing this and the witnesses for attending. The goal of the regulations and rules should be to help our 6,000 colleges and universities create campus environments that make students safer from Sexual Assault. In doing that we should be careful to one eliminate laws and regulations that are dup duplicate so instead of filling out forms colleges have more time to counsel students and create a safer environment. Two, help colleges better coordinate with Law Enforcement agencies but not turn colleges in the Law Enforcement agencies. And three, establish procedures that are fair and protect the Due Process Rights of the both the accused and the accuser. I know that the chairman regrets very much that he could not be here today and i would ask that the remainder of his full statement be printed in the record. One of the things that i most enjoy as the United States senator is the opportunity to meet with students from my home state of maine. A sentiment i am sure many of my colleagues share. Yesterday, i had breakfast with my summer interns who attend six different colleges and universities. We discusseded the incidents of Sexual Assault on their campuses and what can be done to halt this crime and meet the needs of survivors. These students had three insightful recommendations. First, they all support mandatory ongoing training for had students. Second they emphasisput emphasis on students who are assaulted need an advisor they can turn to. And as chairman alexander mentioned they believed it was important to make fair discipline procedures are fair for those assaulted and accused. There are two federal laws to help combat Sexual Assault on campus. The cleary act and title nine of the education amendments of 1972. Last Congress Provisions of the cleary act were updated by the enactment of the violence against women act reauthorization. Senator casey a member of this committee, helped lead the effort to include important reforms related to Sexual Assault prevention on campuses. On july 1st the department of education issued new regulations implementing these amendments to insure camps have policy and procedures in place to prevent and respond to Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence dating violence and stalking. These laws include requirements that educational institutions file annual reports on the crime occurring on Campus Institute Security Policies and have fair Disciplinary Procedures for Sexual Assault cases, employ a title nine coordinate notify survivors about their rights and the Resources Available to them, and provide for staff training. Many colleges and universities are also engaged proactively in raising awareness about Sexual Assault among the student body. For example, the university of maine launched its office of Sexual Assault and violence prevention last year and has undertaken a campaign to educate students through posters, bro brochures and other items. The office of greek life requires frat and participate in Sexual Assault, drug and alcohol Awareness Training each year. The system we have in place is designed to allow administrators to intervene quickly on behalf of students in a way that is separate from the judicial system. I hope this hearing will inform the committee of what in the Current System is working, what needs to be changed and whether additional reforms are needed to help keep students safe while respecting the privacy of Sexual Assault survivors who may be reluctant to report the crimes and providing Due Process Rights for all students. This committee has formed a Bipartisan Working Group to explore campus Sexual Assault and Campus Safety in greater detail. I look forward to hearing from your witnesses on how we can build concensus around this issue. Our first panel is comprised of four senators who worked tirelessly together on legislation to combat campus Sexual Assault and introduced the campus accountability and safety act. Senator heller mccaskill, gillibrand, and ayotte are four of the original cosponsors of this bill and devoted a great deal of time and energy to this effort. I want to recognize the work of senator blume, rubio and grass. There are several provisions that merit our full consideration. All of the senators testifying have shown great leadership in addressing campus Sexual Assault and i want to thank each of them for their participation this morning. It is my great pleasure to turn to the Ranking Member senator murray, and i will say this feels like old times when we left the transpirortationtransportationhud appropation subcommittee. Thank you very much. It is great to be working with you on this committee. I note the women of the senate have come today. I want to thank our witnesses as well who represent a wide array of rer spective and appreciate all of you for taking the time to join the senators collins in recognizing the work of the first four witnesses, senator mccaskill, Heller Ayotte and gillibrand. Fighting back against Sexual Assault and campus violence requires coordination input and focus at every level so i am grateful all of our witnesses took the time to be here to talk about this today. I said before, Higher Education is an important pathway to the middle class. It is an opportunity for students to grow personally and develop skills that will prepare them to succeed in todays economy. With all of that to focus on the last thing a student should have to worry about is whether they are safe on campus. But the harsh reality is 15 women is sexually assaulted in college and men as well. In 2013 alone College Campuses reported 5,000 forcible sex offenses and a recent study indicated that number could be much greater. There should be no question that Sexual Violence on campus is a widespread growing and unacceptable problem. Simply put in colleges and universities across the country bake human rights are being violated and all too often Current Systems and Campus Climate encourage under reporting rather than action. As we talk about the serious ness of this problem it is important to talk about the work being done today. Survivors are stepping up to make sure they expect far better from their schools and communities. In doing so they have forced National Conversation and they have shown other survivors they are not alone. President napolitano, great to have you here today. They have developed partnerships between schools and communities and law enforce to cord nature and improve response. Thanks to the work of many here today, including senator casey, regulations went into affect as part of the violence against women act of 2013 that will require schools to increase transparency about Sexual Assault and violence and strength strengthen efforts. I am pleased with the leaders here gathered to talk about the prevalence of campus Sexual Assault and put in place key protections for survivors and improve coordination with Law Enforcement and impose harsher penalties on schools not meeting the requirements. As a mother grandmother and a senator i know to know when a student is attacked her school is ready to respond with respect, compassion and accountability. We need to do everything we can to engage students in school so Sexual Assaults dont happen in the first place. Recent research by the centers for Disease Control has identified campus Sexual Assault as a Public Health issue and shown sustained Education Programs help prevent Sexual Assault especially by helping those break the myths down and break down social norms that sanction Sexual Violence. I am eager to hear about policies and programs aimed at prevention. We cannot expect to fix this problem just by changing the rules. We have to do something much more difficult and that is to changing the culture. For example just a few years ago, mr. Bolger brought to fact at her school, a paternity printed tshirts of a woman being roasted on a stick like a pig. Think about the message that sends to students, male and female, about how much their Community Values women. This is one example of countless to chose from. That is why the National Conversation students like ms. Bolger starts and other leaders stepped up to support is so absolutely critical. A country that values women and all individuals is stronger for it. So we all need to do our part to keep this conversation going and we need to make it louder. We have done far too little in congress to support survivors and be a voice for women across the country, daughters and granddaughters granddaughters, who are counting on us. I am glad chairman alexander and i agree the Health Committee need to join the debate on campus Sexual Assault more fully. I want to thank our witnesses again, including our colleagues and the work many of you did with members on both sides of the aisle focused on the fight. As we continue the conversation about our countrys Higher Education system and the work on this community, we have an opportunity to stand up for survivors and make sure the status quo is totally unacceptable and continue the conversation about changes we need to see. I want to thank senator collins for being here and i want to recognize senator sanders for stepping up. Thank you very much. Thank you, senator murray. I am now very pleased to welcome our colleagues as the first panel of Witnesses Today. Missouri senator Claire Mccaskill has a long history of fighting Sexual Violence going back to when she prosecuted sex crimes and established a Domestic Violence unit in kansas city and leading to her current work in the senate to curb Sexual Assaults in the military and on College Campuses. She is the lead on the campus accountability and safety act. Nevada senator dean heller has been an advocate for Sexual Assault survivors since his ten ure representative when he reduced the back log of rape kits and brought closure to the families of the crime. New york senator gillibrand has been a key joyce voice on the issues of Sexual Assaults in military particularly in the armed Senate Committee. And New Hampshires senator kelly ayotte drawing on her experience as New Hampshires chief prosecutor and former attorney general worked hard in this senate to stop Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence. Thank you for being here and we will start with senator mccaskill. Thank you very much chairman collins and Ranking Member murray for holding this important hearing. These crimes are troubling to parents, students and educators. As a mother grandmother and most importantly informed by my former work of many years prosecuting sex crimes i am working to make sure students are protected from incidents of Sexual Violence and perpetrators are held accountability. I am proud to work with my fellow senators to introduce a version of the campus account accountability safety act or casa. We didnt stop there. Over the past 15 months our coalition of eight offices met with over 60 organizations, including groups representing students who have been victims of college Sexual Assault, colleges and universities Law Enforcement, victim advocating and parents of those young people who have been accused of Sexual Assault on the College Campuses. After last years version of casa in 2014 as we continued to meet and gathered additional feedback, we have i think, made significant improvements to the bill and reintroduced it with a larger Bipartisan Coalition with 33 cosponsors, 12 republicans and 21 democrats. That is a Bipartisan Coalition we all know we dont see every day in the United States senate. And our legislation is so much stronger for it. We are all enormously proud of the work we have done together. We want to bring crime out of shadow. I take special interest in assuring those victimized by Sexual Assault are given adequate support and feel empowered to make informed decisions in a very complicated situation. There are different systems. There is the legal system and there is title 9. There are different obligations depending on who learns of the crime. These young people need to have information they can rely on as they navigate this complicated scenario at a moment they are traumatized, emotional, and really are worried they have no place to turn for reliable information or where they would be treated with creditability. Our legislation would establish new campus resources and support services for victims who are alleging they have been victims of Sexual Assaults. Colleges and universities would be required to assign advisors to the students and that may be the most important part of the legislation. This is a person that guides the student through the process of understanding the prootential Legal Process following the assault. Not only would the confidential ad advisor support the students every step of the way and put them back in charge of what happens moving forward. We have heard from advocates and chose who have been assaulted they need someone they can talk in order to learn about their options without being forced to make a permanent decision right away. Because the confidential advisor works at the discretion of those who have been assaulted and i believe their creation is critical to tackle the underreporting that prevadefollows this issue. It is my hope a student assaulted on a friday night to know on that same friday night who or she can call and where he or she can go for good information and confidential support. Our bill now includes a provision to insure more transparency about the process. Our bill requires both the victim and accused have timely notice of an institutions decision to proceed with the allegation. This provides both the victim and accused student to meaning meaningful exercise the rights afforded to them under the in institutional process. We must continue to work to improve confidence in the judicial system that many increase supporting and punish perpetrators. We must sure the provisions provide transparency for those accused. I look forward to working with colleagues and members of the committee on this bill for the safety act in the coming months. We think between all of us worked on this and the input we believe there are several key provisions that could be included that could make a real difference Going Forward and we really appreciate this committee taking the time to deal with it today. We tried to divide up the testimony in a way we will not be too repeative and i hope we are not. It is hard for us to not all want to be here. We appreciate you putting up with all four of us wanting to get our words in this morning. Thank you. Senator heller. Chairman and rank Ranking Member murray thank you for the opportunity to testify on this particular issue that i think it is critically important but most importantly i want to thank you for your Opening Statements for your understanding, concern and support of moving something forward here so we can make sure these campuses are safe. I am proud to work along with my colleagues here and glad to see there are more male senators showing up. It was lonely for a while. I assure you there are other male senators just as interested and devoted to the issue as i am. When we first started working on the legislation it was important to sit down with the stake stakeholders in nevada. I received input last year from Police Officers victim advocating groups on ways to assist survivors and stop the assaults. Much of the feedback helped us draft our first bill and this is only one example of outreach most senators do. Since the first introduction of the bill our Bipartisan Working Group continued to meet with stake stakeholders including survivor groups, students, colleges and units, law enforce and others to help strengthen and improve your new bill we introduced earlier this year. We worked diligently with the Old Committee to ensure our final bill included comments from experts. We believe we put together a comprehensive product that will provide our schools with the tools they need to make our campuses safer. I know watching your child go off to college is a prouder moment. But parents want to be confidant their sons and daughters will be safe and have access to resources they need. Today we have over a hundred colleges and universities under investigation for violation of title nine in the handling of campus Sexual Violence. We have seen news stories after new stories about the events the reality is many more survivor stories havent been heard or told. Sexual assault is a crime that more often that not goes unreported which is one reason why data provided by the nations institution dont reflect the prevalence of this crime. Many colleges and universities are reporting zero incidents of Sexual Assault to the federal government. I strongly believe one of the most provisions of the bill is the Campus Climate survey. This survey will improve access to accuracy campus data by allowing students to anonymously share their experiences related to Sexual Assaults. Schoolsal will give Anonymous Surveys and the department of education is responsible for developing the survey and picking up the cost. Schools need to make sure they have an adequate number of representatives taking the survey. They will be reported to congress and published on the department of educations website. The American Public will be able to compare the Campus Climates of all schools. As a father of four children i wish i had access to this kind of information while my kids prepare to go to college. As a grandmother of two now my hope is as they go off to school our nations campuses will be safer than ever before. It will be a useful tool for students parents and invaluable resource for institutions to create or enhance Sexual Assaults or assist survivors of the crime and improve safety overall. This provision is one example of how Congress Acts today. They cannot they cannot legislate away Sexual Assault but i believe the countability safety act is a step in the right direction and cairn guaranteeing survivors have access the help they need. It has been an absolute honor and pleasure to serve and work with them to get this work done. Thank you very much. Thank you, senator. Senator gillibrand. Thank you, chairwoman collins and Ranking Member murray. I am grateful for your attention and commitment on this issue and grateful for chairman alexanders interest and having this hearing. About a year ago, we outlined a path forward to protect students from campus Sexual Violence and heard from survivors who spoke passionately about not only the harm and physical assault they indured but the second injustice of feeling betrayed by a school they love and administration they trusted. We listened to Law Enforcement, talked to campus officials, talked to the advocates for the rights of the accused, all who wanted their voice heard. As senator mccaskill said this second bill is truly a superior version of the first bill. This bill its fundamental object is to flip the incentives so the first time it would be in the best interest to solve the problem and actually do it aggressively and get it right. We did it because obviously the price of a College Education should never be the risk of a Sexual Assault. Every day it is becoming increasingly clear that too many schools are failing because they do not take Sexual Assault seriously enough and do not see it as the violent felony it actually is and treat them as lifealtering assaults or violent crimes. Schools all across the country will routinely hold a diploma if you dont pay fees or kick you out if you cheat on a test. But the statistics for students who violate other students and found responsible show only one third are expelled for the crime. Two thirds of students who are found responsible for Sexual Assault are still on their College Campus. What does this say about our schools priorities if some colleges have tougher justice for a student cheating on an exam than someone who raped another student. The campus accountability and safety act will transform the way colleges deal with this crime. With this bill, instead of pretending these crimes dont happen schools will be held accountability for providing the statistics accurately. Every college in the country would give their students an Anonymous Survey to assess Students Experience with campus Sexual Violence. The result would give students and parents and campus administrators a shot in time on what is happening on their campus that would paint a picture of the scope and depth of the national problem. With this bill instead of having Campus Security and local Police Debate jurisdiction after a Sexual Assault is reported every college and university in the country would be required to have an understanding with local Law Enforcement to assign responsibility. As senator mccaskill said when you go see the confidential advisor they will tell the survivor what the options are. She will know what happens under each process. Instead of a survivor feeling like she has to go public with the details of her rape just to capture her schools attention with this bill she has a dignified path to Justice Without broadcasting the details of the Worst Nightmare of her life in public and on the cover of the new york times. I truly believe we have a responsibility to keep your young men and women safe on campus. I have for the record a number of letters i would like to introduce. One from the American Federation of teacher, one from rain one from the State University of new york, a system of 64 colleges and universities, the largest in the country who endorsed every provision of this bill i have one from the representatives of the Louisiana Legislature where a version of this passed into law and another one from the from students acting to send rape. Thank you for your dedication and the members coming to the hearing. Thank you for your testimony and those letters will be entered into the record without objection. Senator ayotte. Thank you chairman collins, thank you Ranking Member murray and i want to thank chairman alexander as well for his focus on the issue. I know many members of the committee are cosponsors of the bill and been real leaders and we appreciate that attention. I am deeply honored to be here with my colleagues and this has been an important process of continuing to seek feedback on making sure we are looking at the best practices that occur around the country and solving the worst problems and inconsistency we have seen around the country. Thank you for your leadership on this. This is an example of how members of both parties Work Together when you see the strong bipartisan support for this bill and the strong bipartisan message this hearing sends today that we all appreciate that every student deserves a safe environment on campus so that students can focus on learning instead of being victims of crime or feeling that they have to be in fear and that is really what we want to accomplish and give the proper tools and focus on this incredibly important issue. Campus Sexual Assault is a serious Public Safety issue that has impacted every state in this nation including my home state of New Hampshire. So like senator heller in order to hear directly from stakeholders i held round tables and discussions on this issue at dartmouth, and the university of New Hampshire bringing together students survivor organizations, Law Enforcement, and Campus Administration officials to talk about these issues in different size colleges with different challenges. In New Hampshire we have seen some positive developments when it comes to insuring that survivors receive support on campus. And i think this National Discussion has forced many colleges to really focus on this issue so i think having a hearing like this also causes our campuses to reexamine the issue. For example, having met with local Law Enforcement and administrators and students at Dartmouth College i know they are engaged in a process and committed to change at dartmouth. And i had candid conversations with the administration there. The Dartmouth Community struggled with this issue and there is work to do but i am encouraged they formalized a relationship with a local Rape Crisis Center to provide Confidential Services to survivors. At the university of New Hampshire they did nationally recognized recognition for their work on ending campus assault. And we are trying to bring campuses in line with the effort we have seen at unh. The police chief, paul dean says it is conspiracy of care for the students at unh. As a former attorney general in my state i know crimes of Sexual Assault are serious crimes and need to be handled by Law Enforcement if victims chose to purview pursue that route. But these crimes are underreported and our bill is seeking to foster a relationship between schools and Law Enforcement by requiring colleges and universities to enter a memorandum of understanding when the entity that has jurisdiction to report and investigate crimes on campus. The goal of the mou is to foster a dialogue between the fool school and Law Enforcement before a serious incident takes place. It will delinate responsibilities and can insure survivors who come forward and compose to report a crime to Law Enforcement these crimes are properly investigated. It can also insure that an accused individual has a clear understanding of what their rights are in this process as well. We know that too many of these crimes go unreported on campus. And that is why it is so critical, this piece of the coughednfidential advisor so they know someone is representing them in the process and what their options are if they chose to report to Law Enforcement and what happens during the administrative process. These provisions are critical as you look at the bill. And unfortunately one other issue that came up during the course of bringing people together around this and i know senator mccaskill has focused on this as well and we have been very outraged we found out that on some campuses the way the crimes have been investigated is you had Athletic Departments investigating crimes of Sexual Assault and handling these matters. And so consistency in insuring practice like this never occur again will insure the fairness not only to the accused but the victims of Sexual Assault. You can imagine if you a victim and the Athletic Department is investigating an athlete accused of these crimes and you will feel you will not get justice in those circumstances. This bill would end practices like that and make sure there is consistency and fairness for victims to insure a confidential advisor is giving and there is a clear process to investigate the crimes. I thank you for your leadership both the chair and Ranking Member on this issue, and my colleagues and their incredible work today. Thank you. Thank you very much. I want to thank all four of our colleagues for coming to testify today and for our outstanding leadership on this issue. I know you have busy schedules so at this point you are free to go. We will bring forth the second panel. I am pleased to welcome our next panel of four Witnesses Today. Our first witness president Janet Napolitano is the president of the university of california. I had the pleasure of working with president napolitano when she was secretary of Homeland Security and i served as Ranking Member of the senate Homeland Security committee. It is a pleasure to welcome her back to washington today. President napolitano leads a University System with 10 campuses, five medical centers, three affiliated National Labs and a statewide agriculture and Natural Resources program. Previously she served as governor and attorney general, not at the same time i might add, of arizona. Dana bolger is our second witness and the cofounder of know your nine. She leads a national cam to end campus and sexual dating violence. She is a 2014 graduate of the Amhurst College. Thank you for being here. Next we will hear from Dolores Stafford who is the associate director of the Clery Compliance Office and professionals and associate for campus administrators who are responsible for managing clery compliance. She serves as the president and ceo of dean stafford and associates a Promotional Service firm specializing in safety and security related issues on College Campus. It is interesting to note she served as chief of police as George Washington university for several years right here in washington. And finally we will hear from Mollie Benz Flounlacker who is the associate Vice President for federal relations at the association of american universities where she has worked for 14 years. She is responsible for Higher Education policy and funding issues. Governor napolitano we will begin with you. Thank you, senator collins, senator murray and members of the committee for holding this hearing and for the statements of your colleagues earlier this morning as well. I am really pleased to see the bipartisan support on this issue. Campus Sexual Assault and Sexual Violence is a criminal issue. It is a Public Health issue. It is a cultural issue. At the university of california which is the nations largest Public University e, we have no tolerance but the question is what do you do about it. I am here to briefly describe what we have done and make a few comments on the legislation. In june of 14 we established a system wide task force to develop and implement a model for prevention response and reporting of incidents of Sexual Violence and Sexual Assault. We broadened the definition to include things like dating violence Domestic Violence and stalking which previously wasnt included. And we adopted a consent standard meaning consent must be knowing, intentional and revocable. The task force was broad but identified eight key recommendations and i am pleased to see the recommendations of the task force are really mirrored in the legislation that you are considering now. A consistent Response Team system wide investigation standards including sanctions, comprehensive training and education for the entire uc community, communications and public awareness, a confidential privacy and advocate for each survivor, a system wide website for information, standard Data Collection and increased accountability in reporting, and then appropriate support services for survivors based on their circumstances. Those are the eight key pillars of what we are doing. Four have already been completely enacted. The remaining four will be implemented no later than january of 2016. The most important is establishing the independent confidential advocate on every campus on the university of california. We have funded it we have supported it we have trained it. We have also setup system wide education. Every person every freshman reporting this fall will receive the same training throughout the system and that training will then include all other students faculty and staff. When you add all of those numbers together that is over 400,000 people will be receiving the training. We have worked and worked with the California Attorney general on a Model Template and tool kit for the linkage between the campuses and district attorneys and Law Enforcement. And the websites are up and running and in my written testimony i have given you the website, if you have extra time which you dont, but if you do you can go on the website. A couple brief comments on the legislation. Three principles. It has to be flexible enough to allow for institutional differences. There is a big difference between a big public universities like a berkeley or ucla and a very small college. We need to take some of that into account. Second, existing rules and regulations within the department of education need to be better allocated and coordinate coordinated. There is a lot of duplication and delay there. I know the department is working on this but it is something that should be taken into account. And third, any new laws should not undo any researchbased best practices already implemented at campuses across the country. Campuses are moving even while the legislative process is underway. I think we are close to voluntarily compliance with the key elements of casa. One thing, last point, on the mous the legislation should recognize that many large campus campuses have their own sworn police departments. So how that works in the mou world needs to be taken into the account legislatively. But again i think the importance of this hearing and the importance of the support shown in the senate for this legislation cannot be overstated and on behalf of the university of california we are very grateful for your efforts. Thank you very much for your testimony. Ms. Bolger welcome. Thank you and good morning chairman collins, Ranking Member murray and members of the commit commit. I am very grateful to be here. During high time at Amhurst College i benefited from decades of fight to promote gender equality but inherited a history of under enforcement in the shadow of gender violence ramped and with a few students known anything about title nine. Students who experienced sexual or dating violence were encouraged not to report denied counseling and pressured to take time off. When i reported my own abuse, i was urged to drop out and go home and return after my rapist graduateed graduate graduated. Students of color, lgbt students, low income students and students with disability are the most underrepresented. This frustrates their effort to learn and graduate but came with staggering burdens. The cost of violence is very real. Between the expense of Health Services that colleges have refused to provide and tuition lost when victims feel they cannot safely remain on campus with their assailiant without support. It cost survivors educational students and continue long after graduation. Many survivors grade plummet when they are forced to study in libraries with their abuser or suffer from ptsd. Due in part of the guidance from the department of Education Office for civil rights schools are finally beginning to take their responsibility more seriously. Housing changes and Mental Health issues might seem trivial but to survivors it is keeping students from dropping out. Title nine is a powerful tool to keep the one in five women in school and learning. I outlined a number of solutions in my written testimony but here i will focus on two. Man dating campus transparency and promoting effective enforcement of title nine through the office of civil recognizable. It remains grossly underfunded and understaffed. Increased funding would allow us to provide Technical Assistance to schools on how to comply with title ix to better inform students about their rights and to improve Campus Safety by ensuring timely investigations. We have seen a remarkable transformation, including those that were once confined and now today survivors and advocates have the opportunity to discuss the urgent issues for this committee. I thank you for your time and i thank you for your commitment to building a future where students can learn and live free from violence. Thank you so much for your testimony. Its so important that we put a human face on this problem and that is what you have done today. I so admire that you turn your horrendous experience into advocacy so that others dont go through what you did. So i thank you for being here today. Good morning chairman and Ranking Member and members of the committee. I appreciate the opportunity to join me to discuss the requirements, including the newest requirements and amendments in addition to what institutions are doing. I have a unique perspective as i have the opportunity of the George Washington university to serve as the chief of police why founded unsupervised Sexual Assault Response Teams almost 20 years area and it is not uncommon for a chief of police who also supervised a Sexual Assault advocacy group. This model worked because of my passion for wanting to ensure survivors of Sexual Assault were not revictimized by our response processes or actions in dealing with what i consider to be one of the most personal violations a human being can suffer. We dealt with over 250 cases during my tenure. That being said i know that campuses expend a significant effort and resources in bolstering safety ranging from implementing physical Security Systems to developing operational policies and procedures to plan for emergencies and crisis scenarios and providing a myriad of Educational Programs to enhance the knowledge and Awareness Regarding crimes on campus. Campus or form committees and teams and task forces and organizations to resolve pressing issues related to Campus Safety, they consider best practices and research in formulating effective prevention and response strategies. A cornerstone of efforts include the query act requires all eligible institutions to comply with annual an ongoing and immediate requirements. Some of this includes identifying Campus Security authorities are what i like to call mandatory reporters of crime and developing Crime Statistics from all of those people on campus from identified. This is a significant task a small Residential College would typically have between 300 and 500 tsas you have to be trained in their responsibilities as mandatory reporters of the crimes that they become aware of. Publishing and distributing an annual security report, these reports must currently include 111 separate policy statements and disclosures as well as three years worth of Crime Statistics for the 15 crimes. Campuses must alert the community from a timely warning notice that may pose a serious or a continuing threat to the community and they have to immediately alert the Campus Community through an Emergency Notification through those that pose an immediate threat to health and safety of the community. And they have to create and maintain and make available a written daily crime log just to name a few of the requirements. The department of education has published a 300 page handbook as a resource for institutions to comply with this incredibly complex law the handbook contains rules and exceptions to those rules. The handbook feels as clear as the u. S. Tax code. In 2013 the amendments to the query act added 47 new policies and statement disclosures to the law, the that were previously 64 disclosures effectively doubling the requirement. The new policy statement largely requires institutions to develop and implement and disclose very specific procedures that the institution will follow upon receipt of a report of any effects. This includes the new requirement to report Crime Statistics for Domestic Violence and stalking incidents and includes two new categories of hate crime reporting. Information concerning the victims rights and options must also be provided in writing to students and employees reporting these crimes. A new addition and in my opinion the most important one is the mandate for institutions to provide education efforts around prevention and awareness of Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence and stalking this includes current and new students and employees would have to address a significant amount of required content, the Educational Programs are prescriptive, which i elaborate on in my written testimony. Title ixs indelible influence can be seen throughout the amendments including the preexisting sub Regulatory Guidance and elevated them to the center they carried the force of law under the clery act. Many see it as a Campus Safety effort. Many of the new requirements have potential to enhance existing safety on campus. Each of these proposals will require thoughtful consideration of applications intended or otherwise of adoption especially from a practitioners perspective. As a professional maycock welcomes the opportunity to be involved in any effort to help consider the practical propose legislation in any of the department of educations efforts to provide resources for institutions and i appreciate the opportunity to address the committee today and i welcome all questions that you may have. Thank you very much. Good morning chairman, Ranking Member, and members of the committee. Thank you for inviting me to testify today. Im an associate Vice President for federal relations at the association of American University and im also the project manager for the aau Sexual Assault survey. I have also been a College Student and now a mother. I care deeply personally and professionally about this issue great im proud to be part of this effort to confront it. In my remarks im going to outline explained on this very important subject. Number one we have long identified Sexual Assault on campuses as an extremely important issue that they need to face head on i have spent more time talking about this than i have the last 18 months. University president s make it clear that one Sexual Assault on a College Campus is too many. One of the most important goals of the universities is to make their campuses a safe place for students to learn and succeed. Individual a Sexual Assault cases can be complex. Schools take seriously their responsibility to educate students about awareness and prevention to encourage students to report Sexual Assault, to respond compassionately and seriously and to ensure that all students have access to fair and prompt, campus disciplinary processes. In keeping with its mission as an association of Research Universities we decided to take a researchbased approach to help members understand that the attitude and accordingly we created and implemented a Sexual Assault in Misconduct Climate survey in consultation with an outside social Science Research firm. This includes recognized experts we will publicly release the results this fall in hopes that approves first and foremost helpful to schools and also to policymakers in the legislative arena. The data will also be made available later to the Research Community which we expect is going to be a Significant Resource to better understanding this issue. Having spent the last 15 months on this project i can say that it is an extremely complicated process, moving forward we would like the experts to be a resource for congress to work through this issue in the campus accountability and safety act in particular. We would like to get this right because we strongly support the use of Climate Surveys on College Campuses. The legislative and regulatory landscape around Sexual Assault is messy because of the number of different federal laws and state laws, regulations and guidance as chief staff have articulated. We believe that schools need is remark of clear and consistent standards with flexibility when appropriate so that they have the necessary tools to better protect students and support survivors. Number five aau strongly supports the goal to better inform and protect students including core elements are promoting the use of campus confidential adviser and campus Sexual Assault survey for example. We supported appreciate many of the changes that have been incorporated into the current version. It there are still some areas where we have remaining concerns. Primarily because of unanticipated effects on students as outlined in my written testimony. For example, we strongly support giving them a confidential adviser whose sole responsibility is to counsel the survivors. This is in the best interest of the survivor and any requirements that the adviser asks in an investigatory or reporting role could compromise confidentiality under state law and increase the likelihood of the adviser been subpoenaed in subsequent legal proceedings. Its inevitable that new duties will be assigned to the individual by the department of department of education is implement the law. We are also concerned about potential conflicts with the advisers responsibilities and the current title ix reporting aspects. The sole responsibility should be to counsel the survivor. Lastly Sexual Assault is a societal problem. As important as it is for colleges to confront it directly, it does not exist in isolation on College Campuses. We believe that there is a role for the entire Education Community to play in producing cultural changes that reduce the incident of Sexual Assault. Aau in the Higher Education Community Look forward to continuing to work with congress and the administration to make students safer. We thank you for the opportunity to testify and were happy to answer questions. Thank you very much for your testimony. We have just been notified that the votes have started. We are going to have to and we will have a recess while we do that it. But we will be able to continue for now and get through some questions before people have to vote. We will limit the senators for five minutes and i do also want to announce that senator alexander will be returning and after the votes he is going to take over as chairman. It has been a great experience. I would have liked to have continued, but i will turn over the gavel. To the legitimate chairman of the committee. Maam, i would like to pick up on a point that you commented on about the confidential advisors. I am a strong supporter of the confidential advisors. I have been surprised when i talk to the university of maine that it turns out that this is not as straightforward as i thought that it would be. On the one hand confidentiality truly focuses on the victim and that is what we should do and it could encourage individuals report and seek the help they that they need. On the other hand the requirements of title ix and the clery act required various forms of reporting when crimes occur on campus and indeed the department of educations 2014 died in says that there are situations in which a school has to override a students request for confidentiality in order to meet the title ix obligation. So it seems that we are putting schools between a rock and a hard place as we are getting clarity here. How can colleges and universities provide the Confidential Services and advising that many of us think are vital to students while balancing and meeting the requirements of both federal and in some cases state laws and the desire to respond effectively. I think the senator has identified a very good issue. We want to get the confidential advisor right. It is essential to students. As you articulated and as i mentioned in my opening comments, we have concerns that the adviser would be passed with responsibility to go outside of what we think should be the responsibility of counseling of students. As you mention in addition to the issues of any factfinding or investigatory powers potential conflicts is a real concern and one that will have to address in order to get this right. Part of the issue in the legislation and if im getting too technical, please stop me part of the issue is that in the legislation the adviser has an institution to make accommodations this could include changes in a dorm room or a classroom, and it says explicitly that it shall not trigger an investigation by the school and it clearly shows that schools are permitted to providing accommodation and maintaining confidentiality. But many believe that they are making accommodations for a student that it is sufficient to warrant an investigation by an institution. As the senator articulated this is required to track and report what is provided in response to Sexual Assault. Theres a clear conflict and i think that there are some solutions and we would very much like to be a part of that conversation. So for example it would be better for the adviser to let the survivor to know where to go, who to talk to about making accommodations rather than that adviser actually carrying the process themselves. There are solutions here and again we just have to keep on focusing on the core responsibility of the adviser, which is to counsel and make sure that the guidance is very clear so schools know what they are doing and survivors understand what the adviser can do to help them. Thank you. Im going to ask the record to respond to the record to that issue because i think that there is a clear conflict between the roles and the regulations. But i would like to quickly get to a second topic in my remaining time. We have the military academies that do, and they have a very high Response Rate because the students know that they are expected to fill out those Climate Surveys and that is not necessarily a case for private colleges and universities. So what would you have to encourage students to participate in the Climate Surveys so that they are meaningful . Thank you for the question. Its a very good one. In thinking through Climate Surveys we have to remember that this is just one piece of a larger effort to change the culture around Sexual Violence on campus and that means doing education work and an outreach and training to students that raises the profile of them end of this issue, to help them understand how incredibly important it is. And i think we have seen a lot of change on campuses over just the last couple of years. Student peers are coming forward and telling their stories publicly. The more optimistic that students will want to be part of the process to complete these surveys. And i do believe that we should certainly build upon existing structures on campus of students so that we have fraternities, we have sports teams, sororities. These are groups of people that come together with shared values and i think that if we can create this among people in the communities we are going to see much higher Response Rates. Thank you. Senator . Thank you. I wanted to start by saying that i admire you for your courage and how much i appreciate the work that you have done to empower other students and survivors in creating this organization and it is just very valuable. So i think you for that. I do want to ask you given the fact that Sexual Assault is such an underreported crime to the Law Enforcement, what do you think is the most important step for universities to create to create this survivor focused approach . Synecdoche per your question and your kind words. I think first off the survivors need to know what they can expect to receive out of a reporting process. Schools need to ensure that the existence of accommodations and how to access them is clear and well publicized and understood. And of course following up and actually issuing those of accommodations to protections who request them. I know a number of survivors on my campus didnt report it simply because they didnt understand that a school could be useful in helping them change a dorm that they shared with a perpetrator or take them out of a class section that they shared with the abuser. The second point i would make is transparency. We have spoken a little bit about Climate Surveys its also important that schools release aggregate data about the results of disciplinary hearings, how quickly they are proceeding. Of course this should not be identifying information but just in aggregate. But i think that that is going to help survivors build confidence in the system and trust that the schools are there for them. Great. Okay. This is a Significant Health problem in our country, nearly one in five women asexually as all did in college and its oftentimes by someone that is known to the victim. A former partner or friend or acquaintance in a class. I know that you have seen students take the issue of addressing this headon forming a systemwide task was to improve the community and may campuses safer. So i wanted to ask you, how has the uc focus efforts on making sure that focuses not only on improving universities practices in response to Sexual Assault but also working towards a culture of prevention as well. Thank you. I believe that it begins with raising the issue, as i mentioned, from the first day a student shows up to become a start, they will be given specific training on this and they will also be made aware of what resources are available to them if something were to occur. Where to go who are the independent advocates, what can they do. We see the independent advocates as acting as gatekeepers and not as reporters, per se. But as gatekeepegatekeepe rs in terms of do you go to the Campus Police should you go to your Department Chair and etc. And then to be there to do appropriate followup working with the students. But it begins with creating that culture from the day they begin on campus and consistency and persistency throughout their college experience. Very quickly because i know we have a vote. In the fall of 2014 i know that california became the first state in the country to enact a yes means yes lot of finding sexual consent. Can you talk with us about how this affirmative consent law is empowering students and faculty . We had actually changed our policy before the law changed and we had a years worth of experience where, you know, in a way it shifts the burden so that the survivor isnt the one always trying to explain what happened. And it means that consent has to be knowing and intentional and that gets incorporated into all of the training materials. Can you share the thoughts on how a standard this can help with Sexual Assault . I think that affirmative consent is a strong and important policy that reflects the student values already how students want to engage in relationships with people in their communities. And i do think that this will only be successful if there is education for students about what the expectations are and how to obtain consent. Students Enter College with a wide array of understanding of what consent really is. And i believe that orientation programming and continuing ongoing training for students as well as for the people who will be hearing the cases and investigating it is absolutely necessary to make sure that this becomes common and expected on campus. Thank you. Senator . Senator gillibrand circulated some suggestions that 41 of campuses, and i cannot verify this, 41 of colleges and universities recently surveyed but they have not conducted a single investigation on the last five years. Wow. That seems like theres a problem with the university communicating to their students that this is reportable. And i cannot independently verify that. I have a daughter on campus. That seems like a problem with the university. Is that a fair statement . Thank you for the question, senator. I cannot speak to the individuals. I am not an expert in that arena. But i will say that the schools are taking it very seriously but to explain the process and explain how students can report and explain what has happened in a disciplinary private option. If that statistic is correct and i dont know that it is coming 41 had not investigated a single incident, but it is as prevalent as suggested that tells me that they are not taking it seriously. Because that that is measured is addressed and they choose not to address. Clearly in all standard our mistakes made . Yes. Every system can be improved. And they are not justifying again the statistics. There could be truth to it. There may not be. I know that there are a lot of reasons why cases dont go forward. And so sometimes the context is really important and there are cases where survivors dont necessarily want to go forward. And again, i cannot speak to those specific statistics but i do know that speaking from the Association President s recognize most importantly they need for better dataware is where this survey comes in and its very important that we understand how students im almost out of time. You have so many titles. I dont know which to refer to you as. But you mentioned that there should be a difference between a big State University and a small liberal arts college. Can you elaborate on that approach . Thoughts about how we address that issue. Were looking into that right now how do we make sure the system is fair. When i look at litigation that has been filed against the university of california about how many cases have been filed by survivors and respondents. There is a lot of controversy. Do we provide or what kind of support do we provide to a respondent in addition to the complainant . Right now we provide support to the complainant. Do we provide the exact same thing . Should actually leave the University System and go to civil court because that is how you ensure you get fair treatment for both parties. Looking at 41 percent. Tells me for a sizable minority of the university theyre is an adequacy of some in an adequacy of his approach. If you made it mandatory these cases go into either civil or criminal court that would be a deterrent to complainants coming forward at all so i would be cautious about mandatory referral. My time is out. The committee stands in recess for senators to vote and will resume shortly. Thank you for your testimony i cannot thank you enough. The committee will come back to order. Contrary to my expectation although the chairman has returned, he has graciously agreed to allow me to continue wielding the gavel. I am feeling extremely powerful. Until such time as ii have to leave and then he will resume his rightful place as chairman of the committee. I think the senator for his courtesy on an issue that matters a great deal to me. Senator bennett your next. Thank you, madam chair and mr. Chairman for allowing the senator from maine to continue. Thank you to the witnesses for being here. Thank you so much for your testimony. The written testimony but not in your oral testimony your views on mandatory referral laws and how we should think about that and policymakers. Absolutely. Thank you for the question. Are you speaking about mandatory referral for the police . Yes. That is a wonderful question. I am asked all the time why campuses are dealing with this in the 1st place. I thinki think that is an intuitive question, but the reality on the ground is survivors tell us again and again that were theyre were reports of forced to go to the police they would report and no one at all. Nineall. Nine and ten survivors told us if the reports were turned over without the consent they expect fewer victims to report. If we are serious the best thing to do is to empower survivors with the right to decide who receives the reports. Does anyone else want to touch on that . Lets stick with you. A great turn of phrase reality on the ground. Other things we should be thinking about counterintuitive or not as we act in a wellintentioned way but one that could be counterproductive. A wonderful question. The 1st thing that comes to mind is that we are hearing a lot on College Campuses about Sexual Assault in our schools need to take it seriously. Thatthat is true. Here is a real gap between responding to Sexual Assault and other forms of genderbased violence intimate partner violence, stocking. The components of the clear react will require the reporting of incidents, but it is critically important the schools address these issues and there policies. They can look different. Providing Free Transportation to a locala local court to obtain a restraining order that penalizing survivors in order to obtain a restraininga restraining order. Are you aware, or is theyre anyone else on the panel, is there a designation somewhere of universities that have set the Gold Standard for dealing with Sexual Assault and violence on campuses or some standard that students have established . I ami am trying to think about where we would find the best practices. Where else . We aspire to be the Gold Standard but have more work to do. I think we certainly have taken this on as a major issue for students and Campus Community. You ways an important question, andquestion, and it speaks to the question of legislation for a Grant Program which is important focused on more research on better awareness and prevention which i thinki think our schools are very engaged in on the research front. We need more of it so we can identify best practices. Everyone can agree with that with thebut the Grant Program we would want a dedicated funding stream for this kind of Research Rather than using funding to go into the Grant Program, a dedicated funding stream. At least from where i sit as a recent graduatea recent graduate and survivor and advocate, i dont think that we know any school is getting a perfect. They are strong policies but until we have more information and data like what we can obtain standardized Climate Surveys i dont think we will have a good sense of what policies are working best. Last word. It goes to the. Of flexibility in legislation because evidence based datadriven best practices will change over time. The law wants us to use datadriven best practices and to be able to demonstrate that that is what we are doing. Thank you,you, madam chair. Senator. Thank you madam chair and mr. Chairman. A very important hearing. We talked about the numbers according to the cdc. 19 percent of women who experienced Sexual Assault. Something is very, very wrong. All students should be safe on campus. Highlighting the importance of Climate Surveys and particularly making the data public. I strongly support this effort. Good data can be an important foundation. As you said if no one knows what is going on theyre wont be change. We talked about how colleges respond. Thatrespond. That is important. A schools response should be timely, appropriate respectful but i want to ask about work to prevent Sexual Assault in the 1st place. Chief. Chief stafford, in your nearly 30 years serving and campus Law Enforcement what do you or Gw Administration do that proved effective in preventing Sexual Assaults on campus . Education efforts have to start. We often focus on women because we assume generally women are more frequently the victim than men, but we have to focus education efforts on men and do that when they are in high school we should be sending men to campuses who understand respecting a woman, understand what can centers. I have huge concerns about the level of understanding and friends with teenage boys who might talk to. And they dont understand consent. The education efforts need to be focused only on women and not becoming the victim of a sexual offense but on men and not victimizing women. Nice to go both ways. Focusing just a bit more on the prevention for. The most important thing about prevention education it starts early and keeps going. Education in middle and high school and college to start the week the 1st years get the this and continue. I have no recollection because as a 1st year you are getting bombarded with so many messages slide byebye doing online prevention education which is not education. Skills and Information Base level and also needs to be looking at it on a cultural norm value base level. Can you tell us more about what you have done what you found effective for not in terms of prevention . Again, it is an evolving area. Online supplements complements, those things can happen can happen together, experimenting with peertopeer education. Bystander education so that the overall Campus Community is more aware of what it should do. So those are the kinds of things that i think improve the overall climate. Getting low on time, but because of where we are today where is at the federal government can be helpful in this part of making campuses safer . What is it we should be talking about and thinking about . I hope in this to anyone who would like to respond and then i will jump in. I would like to talk for a 2nd about the issue of mo use because the reason Sexual Assault survivors have been unwilling to report is because they are uncertain do what they will face and deal with when they make the report. Challenged, made to feel relevant. Itit is not going to change, but most campus Public Safety leaders have requested mo use and the local police were willing and if they do not is because the local police were not willing and there is no teeth behind it that forces them to engage in getting into it with the local police, Campus Police department. I would like to see something that forces the hand of local and state Police Agencies to engage with the Campus Police agencies is every time there wastheres a knew chief of police i went to the man asked for an him ou and was refused. That anyone else want to Say Something . The two most important things from my perspective is mandated transparency. Enforcement from the department of education, students felt alone in trying to deal with us. They can continue to step up i have this as questions for the record. Thank you. We have to do everything we can to keep everyone safe on campus. I appreciate you being here today. Thank you. Senator baldwin. Thank you very much for. I want to thank our Witnesses Today for your time and testimony but also for your work and energy devoted to advocating for others you are the start of to start with a question about the Climate Survey a question before break the bolstering participation rates. In addition to that i i wanted to 1st of all recognize the association of american universities has been active in developing and beginning to implement Sexual Assault Campus Climate survey. Im proud of thethat the campuses in wisconsin are part of the effort. As i understand it the results are due in the fall, but i hope that you could perhaps share the lessons that have been learned and implementation. Especially if we are to look at including a Climate Survey as we reauthorize the Higher Education act we want to garner the best and latest information. I want to ask president napolitano the 1st. You raise in your testimony was the flexibility recognizing differences and how that might inform the content. I wonder if you can be more specific about how you would alter the Climate Survey from campus to campus for what we should be thinking about. Thank you for an important question. Question. This is a top priority. Asked for better data. As mentioned we will produce the aggregate results