Ohio's female members of Congress want to be sure Ohio's college presidents to know about a law that goes into effect this year that's designed to fight sexual assault on campuses.

Published October 21, 2014 at 11:58 a.m.

By Sabrina Eaton from the Cleveland Plain Dealer
 

So Democrats Marcia Fudge of Warrensville Heights, Marcy Kaptur of Toledo and Joyce Beatty of the Columbus area on Tuesday sent a letter to inform all of Ohio's higher education presidents about the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act (Campus SaVE Act).

"We write to you this October, during domestic violence awareness month as students have returned to college campuses," says the letter. "To us, this moment in time presents an opportunity to provide education, foster relationships and to serve equally our young constituents and higher education administrators adapting to dynamic change in laws and responsibilities."

Their letter says one in five students experience rape or sexual assault while they are in college, and the victim knows the attacker 80 percent of the time.

"Recognizing that less than five percent of rapes and attempted rapes of college students are reported to campus authorities or law enforcement, we must work together to find solutions to keep our students safe," said the letter.

The law requires colleges and universities to collect data on a broad range of sexual violence incidents on campus and to improve the complaint process in a ways that include notifying purported victims of their rights. It also requires the institutions to adopt policies designed to prevent sexual violence and discipline perpetrators, and is offering institutions federal resources to improve their practices.

The letter from Fudge, Kaptur and Beatty offers to connect the colleges to "national, state and local resources available to ensure compliance and create safe communities on Ohio campuses," such as the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence and the Ohio Higher Ed Board of Regents.

It comes as the U.S. Department of Education's civil rights office investigates how 85 colleges around the country have handled campus sexual assaults. Ohio's University of Akron, Denison University and Wittenberg University are among those who are being investigated.

"To accept things as they are is not an option," Fudge said in a press release about the letter. "I firmly believe we can significantly reduce, if not eliminate, sexual violence on college campuses in Ohio through greater transparency, stronger links between universities and community agencies that work with survivors of sexual violence and improved policies that encourage reporting of sexual assault."Reps. Marcia Fudge, Marcy Kaptur and Joyce Beatty write letter to address campus sexual assaults

http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2014/10/reps_marcia_fudge_marcy_kaptur.html