[dropcap]U[/dropcap].S. Representative Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) has proposed a new bill that would require colleges to note on a student’s transcript any findings of guilt in sexual assault cases against the student, required to remain visible on a college transcript for five years. Appropriately named the Safe Transfer Act, the bill aims to ensure that any student that has been found guilty of sexual assault will have to disclose this information to any postsecondary institution they may attempt to transfer to. In order to protect the rights of those accused of sexual assault, any student that is found to be cleared of all charges will not have a note about the case in their transcript. Any student that is found to be guilty in a sexual assault case will have the opportunity to review their document and may add a written statement to it. Currently, New York and Virginia are the only two states to already have implemented a policy similar to the one Speier presented.
Speier has spoken out about the mishandling of sexual assault cases by college administrators by saying in a statement
“Universities and colleges are perfectly willing to include academic infractions like plagiarism on students’ records, yet students who have committed sexual assault can walk away from campus with a clean academic bill of health. This is appalling and, whether intentional or not, shows that acts of sexual violence on campus are less serious than cheating.”
She also announced the introduction of her bill on Twitter saying that her bill will force colleges to take sexual violence on campus more seriously.
Today I introduced the Safe Transfer Act so that schools will treat #sexualviolence as seriously as cheating. https://t.co/tXbGPg82FN
— Jackie Speier (@RepSpeier) December 8, 2016
The bill has gained support of the organizations End Rape on Campus, the National Organization for Women, and the Association of Title IX Administrators, all of which work to advocate for survivors of sexual assault.
Speier’s presentation of the bill comes just three months after Stanford Rapist Brock Turner was released from jail in September after serving three months for three felony charges related to sexual assault. The case sparked anger across the state of California and across the country as Judge Persky and Stanford University came under fire for the way Brock Turner’s case was handled. In light of the case, Stanford University has banned hard alcohol at parties on campus causing further outrage that the university was not taking enough responsibility in preventing sexual assault on campus. This type of victim blaming and protection for rapists is exactly what Speier’s proposed bill hopes to fix.
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