Colleges will have to reform how they address sexual assault when President Barack Obama signs the Violence Against Women Act, a bill that the House of Representatives passed on a 286 to 138 vote last Thursday. The legislation includes the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act, which will require colleges to report sexual violence in their crime statistics, and extends protection to LGBT, Native American and immigrant abuse victims.
"It's important to have protection for all of our citizens, and that includes women, who are disproportionately victims of gender-based violence," said Center for Gender and Student Engagement director Jessica Jennrich.
It is unlikely that the act will significantly impact the College, since Dartmouth already offers many resources for sexual assault prevention and awareness, said Sexual Abuse Awareness Program co-coordinator Rebekah Carrow.
"Our College is on the forefront of things like that, already supporting the things we need to support, already collecting statistics," Carrow said. "I don't foresee any big change coming."
Dartmouth already utilizes the "preponderance of evidence" standard previously delineated by the SaVE Act, Mentors Against Violence co-director Holli Weed '14 said.
"I think it's great that this passed because it is showing Dartmouth that we are going in the right direction and that we are trying to move forward in an appropriate way," she said.
Following concerns that a student could be held responsible for sexual misconduct if there is just over a 50 percent chance that claims are true, Congress removed the preponderance standard from the bill.
Alpha Xi Delta sorority president Anneliesse Duncan '13 said she hopes that the legislation's passing will reiterate to community members that sexual assault is a criminal offense.
"Hopefully publicity for the passage of the renewal of this act will remind women on this campus of the fact that sexual aggressors are, in fact, breaking the law," she said in an email.
The bill was an important topic at almost every V-Week event and the passage of the VAWA is an "important human rights message" for the United States, Jennrich said.
Fermin Liu '15, a women and gender studies major, said extending protection to traditionally under-served minority groups is a positive step in the right direction.
"If we can't address other minority issues that are relevant when addressing women's issues, then we're not really making strides toward equality," he said.
The bipartisan Senate version of the legislation was passed in the House 286 to 138 and Obama announced that he will make it into law.
An earlier version of the House bill offered decreased protection for LGBT and Native American victims and did include provisions related to assault at college campuses. The version was met with significant opposition and was rejected 257 to 166.
"Finally, we've had the decency in this law to say everyone has protection, everyone has rights," said Evelynn Ellis, vice president for institutional diversity and equity and Title IX coordinator.
The SaVE Act within the VAWA mandates that university crime reports include statistics for stalking and domestic violence. The act requires colleges to help victims find legal assistance, counseling and health services and to train officials annually on how to handle sexual assault disciplinary proceedings. Colleges must put all new students and employees through programs that "promote the awareness of rape and other violent sex crimes," according to the bill.
The SaVE Act will give the College a "stronger leg to stand on" in combatting sexual assault on campus, Ellis said, but the implications of the pending law remain unknown.
"The law's impact won't become clear until courts begin taking on related cases that is when the strength of the law and its potential interpretations will become clear," Ellis said. "Now they have this document and they can say Here are the national standards.'"
Critics say that the lower burden of proof necessary to carry out disciplinary actions as mandated by the act will negatively affect due process for the accused.
"Colleges have a legal and moral obligation to address sexual assault on campus, but securing justice for victims of campus sexual assault does not require the abandonment of due process and fundamental fairness," Will Creeley, legal director of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, said in an interview with The Huffington Post.
Originally signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1994, VAWA has led to an increase in the number of domestic and sexual violence cases reported to authorities and a decreased rate of intimate partner violence, according to statistics released by the White House.
*Marissa Lilly and staff writer Stephanie McFeeters contributed reporting to this story.**##
