Federal Relations

The Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act strengthens protections for students against bullying and harassment by:

Requiring institutions that receive federal funding to adopt anti-harassment policies covering both in-person and electronic conduct, including harassment based on a student’s actual or perceived race, color, national origin, sex (including sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, childbirth, related medical conditions, or sex stereotypes), disability, or religion.
Mandating broad distribution of anti-harassment policies to all students and employees and making them available to prospective students and employees upon request.
Explicitly recognizing cyberbullying as a prohibited form of harassment.
Establishing a competitive grant program to help colleges and universities launch or expand prevention initiatives and provide counseling services for students who have experienced harassment.

The Campus Accountability and Safety Act would:

Increase transparency and reporting requirements under the Clery Act
Create sexual and interpersonal violence specialists at each institution to serve as confidential aides for victims.
Ensure that sexual and interpersonal violence specialists are well-trained by requiring training created by ED.
Ensure that individuals who report sexual misconduct in good faith are not punished.
Expand the VAWA Campus Grant Program.
Requires the comptroller general to study the effectiveness of VAWA grants.

The Restoring Civility on Campus Act would:

Require immediate OCR investigation on complaints alleging discrimination based on ancestry or ethnicity
Increase transparency for students who report antisemitism
Ensure accurate reporting of hate-motivated crimes and strengthens OCR enforcement of Title VI
- Require ED to conduct ASR Audits
- Increase fines for failure to disclose crimes motivated by antisemitism
  - From $69,733 to $1M per violation
Improve accountability over university and agency officials by:
- Requiring ED staff to process the expedited evaluation of OCR complaints
- Requiring the president or chancellor of the institution to meet with OCR investigators
Require ED to issue a public report on OCR cases involving alleged discrimination on the basis of shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics
- 30 days following the opening of the case
- The report also must be updated every 30 days for the following two years.