Campus Accountability and Safety Act

Key Points

• Colleges would have to designate special sexual and interpersonal violence specialists who can confidentially help students report assaults, arrange schedule or housing changes, and connect them with medical or legal resources, all without forcing them to talk to police or school officials first.
• Schools would be required to publish far more detail in their annual security reports about how they handle sexual assault cases, including how many were reported, how many went through a disciplinary process, how many resulted in a finding of responsibility, and what sanctions were imposed.
• The bill creates an amnesty policy so students who report an assault in good faith would not be punished for related conduct violations like underage drinking or drug use that occurred at or near the time of the incident, encouraging more people to come forward.
• Every college must use one uniform disciplinary process for all students on each campus, and cannot give special treatment based on a student's status as an athlete, their academic major, or any other characteristic.
• The Department of Education would create a public, searchable website showing each school's safety data, pending investigations, enforcement actions, and information on how to file Title IX complaints.
• Schools that fail to comply with the new requirements could face civil penalties of up to 1 percent of their operating budget for each year of noncompliance, with the Secretary able to adjust penalties based on factors like the school's size and the severity of the violation.