'J?nitrrl getting femur WASHINGTON, DC 20510 July 1, 2016 The Honorable John B. King, Jr. Secretary U. S. Department of Education 400 Maryland Avenue, SW. Washington, DC. 20202 The Honorable Loretta Attorney General U.S. Department of Justice 950 Avenue NW Washington, DC. 20530 Dear Secretary King and Attorney General Gender?based violence including sexual assault on our college and university campuses is a serious and growing public health epidemic, and threatens the ability of students across the nation to learn in a safe environment. According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), one in ?ve female undergraduates have been sexually assaulted while in college. Several other surveys support this ?nding, including a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which found that 20 percent of women are sexually assaulted in their lifetime. On college campuses, sexual violence disproportionately affects women and impedes their ability to participate fully in campus life. Educational equity for women and all students requires fair, responsive, fully developed campus sexual assault policies, knowledgeable administrators, with the shared goal of ending sexual violence on campuses. The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA) amended the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act) in response to growing concerns about sexual violence on college campuses. These changes require eligible institutions of higher education to take proactive, robust, and preventive measures to make campuses safer and hold schools accountable. July 15?, 2016 marks one year since these regulations went into effect, and while the Administration has taken strong steps to implement these regulations, we are frankly concerned that schools are not doing enough. Failure to fully adhere to these reforms puts women, and all students, nationwide at risk?and the Departments of Education and Justice have a critical role to play in ensuring the protections laid out in VAWA are fully put into practice. The VAWA reforms, in part, required colleges and universities to include the number of incidents of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking as part of the required reporting of crime statistics to the Department of Education (ED). Unfortunately, this new data showed that in 2014, while nearly 11,600 schools reported, only nearly nine percent reported any occurrences of sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, or stalking and nearly 91 percent reported having no incidents of sexual assault. Further, 91 percent of schools reported no incidents of domestic violence or dating violence. These directly con?ict with the DOJ and CDC data on sexual assault, and strongly suggest that schools are either not taking the reporting obligation seriously or are not creating an environment where students feel comfortable coming forward to report, and are vastly underreporting these crimes. This discrepancy demonstrates the need for the Department of Education to reinforce schools? obligation and to examine where schools are falling short in creating trusted systems for reporting and documenting and reporting data on gender-based violence, in order to provide targeted technical assistance and support. Furthermore, recognizing the need to improve schools? proactive work to prevent these crimes in the ?rst place, the VAWA reforms also focused on increasing student awareness and requiring schools to focus on prevention of gender-based violence. Under the reforms, schools were required to: Detail policies to prevent domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking; Institute procedures that the institution will follow once an incident has been reported; Delineate procedures for survivors to follow when a crime occurs; Provide written noti?cation about existing services and accommodations for survivors; Train of?cials who investigate a complaint or conduct an administrative proceeding regarding any of these crimes in a manner that protects the safety of survivors and promotes accountability; and 0 Implement primary prevention education programs to promote awareness of crimes, provide ongoing awareness and prevention training for students and faculty. This includes making students aware of the de?nition of consent in the jurisdiction, safe and positive options for bystander intervention to prevent harm, and information on risk reduction to recognize to warning signs of abusive behavior. Requiring schools to deve10p and implement prevention strategies is one of the most successful ways to reduce sexual violence in the campus community. Yet, primary prevention is only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to reducing rates of gender-based violence. Prevention complements work on risk reduction, accountability through our criminal justice process, and victim services. As we mark the one?year anniversary of these reforms, we are concerned that a signi?cant number of schools may be out of compliance. To that end, we request that you evaluate how schools are complying with these reforms and clarify what steps can be taken by schools to prevent gender- based violence on their campuses. Speci?cally, we ask that you: 0 Clarify university obligations under the Clery Act through guidance articulating a clear and ?nal timeline for compliance that addresses schools needing assistance with compliance; 0 Work with schools to provide model training for faculty and staff to ensure that school of?cials are informed and prepared to respond to violence; 0 Issue a best practices guide that includes model policies for improving campus safety and preventing and responding to these crimes based on evidence-based measures for school action as required under the statute; and 0 Provide oversight review to ensure institutional compliance with reporting obligations under the Clery Act. The Departments of Education and Justice have been strong partners in our joint efforts to make colleges and universities safe and supporting environments for students to learn, and we appreciate everything you have done to ensure safer campuses for all students. However, we still have more work to do. We look forward to your ongoing partnership in this work and to more progress in the future. Sincerely, U. Patty Murray Tami-I? Baldwin United States Senator United States Senator Ma?a Michael . Bennet Richard Blumenthal United States Senator United States Senator 2.4.3769 Barbara Boxer Sherrod Brown United States Senator United States Senator Maria Cantwell United States Senator 0'51. (MAHSM Robert P. Casey, Jr. United States Senator k?r?mne Feinstein United States Senator a. Kirsten Gillibrand United States Senator 1? Benjamin L. Cardin United States Senator Ambula? Richard J. Durbin United States Senator Al ranken United States Senator Martin Heinrich United States Senator mfk?dw Mazie K. Hirono United States Senator 7m Patrick J. Leahy United States Senator Claire McCaskill United States Senator Christopher Murphy United States Senator /7 jmlj/?, United States Senator Edward J. Markey United States Senator WW Barbara A. Mikulski United States Senator (894% United States Senator Bernard Sanders United States Senator WW Jeanne Shaheen United States Senator War/Le Torn Udall United States Senator Sheldon Whitehouse United States Senator 32;. 342 Brian Sehatz United States Senator Debbie Stabenow United States Senator United tates Senator Lax .. Ron Wyden United States Senator Cory A. Booker United States Senator