Several high-profile rape cases have sparked a national debate about campus safety.
Some rape victims who say that their colleges are not doing enough to address sexual violence on campus have started a national movement to address the issue. These rape survivors call themselves the "IX Network," a reference to a federal law passed in 1972 that forbids discrimination based on gender. They have brought lawsuits in federal court against 29 colleges because they believe that their colleges are not handling reports of sexual assault properly.
Caroline Heldman, a professor at Occidental College, is one of those survivors.
“The national movement is so important because if only a few people are telling the truth, if only a few campuses are telling the truth, it will hurt them,” Heldman told Time . “But if everyone starts telling the truth, then we have a radical rethinking of higher education.”
The relatively recent student movement has a new law that takes effect on March 7, 2014 on their sides.
President Obama signed the Violence Against Women Act into law last year, which clearly dictates college’s responsibilities in handling reports of violence, in addition to the Clery Act requirements. Any college that receives federal financial aid funds must keep records of all violent acts committed on campus, according to the requirements of the Clery Act, as well as issue an annual report clearly stating what the school’s anti-violence policies are.
A summary of the law’s requirements can be downloaded as a PDF here .
A summary of the new Clery Act updates can be downloaded here, also as a PDF file.