For Immediate Release
July 24, 2023
Contact: Chantal Fuller, Communications Director
202-355-8431
cfuller@dccouncil.gov 

                                                                                            CouncilmemberHenderson Introduced Legislation to Support Sexual Assault Survivors

Washington, DC- Prior to the start of the DC Council’s legislative recess, Councilmember Henderson introduced legislation that increases the accountability of universities handling sexual assault with the Institution of Higher Education Sexual Misconduct Reporting and Resource Accessibility Act of 2023.

One of the most important steps a university can take is providing moral support and resources for sexual assault survivors. Unfortunately, in a survey by the American Association ofUniversities, less than half of students surveyed who had experienced sexual misconduct thought it was likely that an official at a school would take an allegation of sexual misconduct seriously. Approximately 30% of victims contacted at least one program or resource to support them, but only 20.6% of these contacted their institution’s Title IX representative and 17.9% contacted their campus victim services office. 

Institutions of higher education are required to publicly report reported incidents of sexual violence, but low survivor reporting leads to low institutional reporting. Only one third of students felt they were very or extremely knowledgeable about the definition of sexual assault, where to get help, and how to report it, which underscores the importance of training and resource accessibility, so students understand what sexual assault is and how to get help.

This legislation would:

·     Require Institutions of higher education in the District to retain a confidential resource advisor (CRA) to provide emergency and ongoing support to reporting parties at institutions of higher education;

·      Require amnesty protections for reporting parties of sexual misconduct for violations of an institution’s student conduct policy if the violation occurred immediately before, during, or immediately after the incident of sexual misconduct, unless the violation put an immediate and severe risk the health and safety of others;

·      Require institutions to facilitate mandatory annual sexual misconduct trainings for all students with information about consent, the impact of drugs and alcohol on an individual’s ability to consent, procedures following sexual misconduct, contact information for the CRA, bystander intervention strategies, the rights of reporting parties, and the institution’s responsibilities regarding no-contact orders, orders of protection, or restraining orders;

·      Require institutions of higher education personnel who are involved in an institution of higher education's investigative and disciplinary process regarding sexual misconduct to receive annual training in handling sexual misconduct complaints and in the operations of the institution's disciplinary process;

·     Require that CRAs, Title IX coordinators, and an institution of higher education’s public safety personnel be educated in trauma-informed responses, and investigators to receive annual training on conducting investigations using trauma-informed responses;

·      Establish minimum criteria for institutions’ sexual misconduct policies;  

·     Allow institutions to grant students who report experiencing sexual misconduct to specific institution personnel a waiver from minimum GPA, credit hour load, or other academic requirements or disciplinary record standards if the reporting student consents for a CRA, Title IX coordinator, public safety personnel, or local law enforcement to confirm to the institution the report of sexual misconduct, and 

·      Require institutions of higher education to prepare and submit to the Higher Education Licensure Commission a report containing data about sexual misconduct on campus, to submit to the Commission and, starting in 2026, publish on its website the results of the online survey for campus safety that will be biennially administered.

“It is important that a students feel confident in the resources and processes that are available to them through their school during one of the worst times of their life. This bill aims to address a lack of provisions to gather sexual misconduct data, increase awareness and prevention by mandating annual evidence-based sexual assault prevention training for all students, and employ better resources for survivors,”commented Councilmember Henderson. “I appreciate students from the Every Voice Coalition and the members of Consortium of Universities in the Metropolitan WashingtonArea for working with my office on the drafting of this bill.  The Council is committed to ensuring safe educational environments for students and personnel at the District’s institutions of higher education and I look forward to working with my colleagues to realize these goals.”

The Institution of Higher Education Sexual Misconduct Reporting and Resource Accessibility Act of 2023was co-introduced by Councilmembers Vincent C. Gray, Charles Allen, Matthew Frumin, Brooke Pinto, and Brianne K. Nadeau.   

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