WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama signed the Violence Against Women Act into law Thursday after a 500-day journey to reauthorization that was fraught with controversy. Even now, some of the most significant gains of the new law may be the least talked-about.
The updated law now includes protections for LGBT persons, immigrants and Native Americans – as well as for American women who become victims of violent acts.
The controversy over these additions remains, but there has been little, if any, discussion on important new protections for victims of human trafficking and sexual violence on college campuses—measures that were almost eliminated in the U.S. House version of the legislation.
After VAWA, as it is called, passed through the Senate, House Republicans worked on drafting a different bill—which was far less expansive and dialed down protections for many groups, including women on campus.
The House version took out the Senate’s inclusion of the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act (SaVE), a measure outlining standards to ensure victims of sexual violence can have legal or disciplinary recourse against their attackers. The Campus SaVE Act also requires universities to report all cases of rape, sexual assault, stalking and intimate partner violence in their annual crime statistics.
Democratic leadership held a news conference two days before final vote on Feb. 28 to express support for the more generous Senate bill. They invited University of Maryland law student Laura Dunn, who was raped during her time as an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison by two men on her rowing team.
“I didn’t speak out at first,” she said, “but when I did it was for no reason, because I never received justice.”
I found a system that was ineffective, and an administration that was unwilling to help.”
Dunn urged support for the SaVE Act, now a part of the Violence Against Women law.
The updated law requires that universities provide all victims with contact information for legal counsel and mental health professionals after an attack. According to provisions, all officials who handle sexual violence-related discipline must receive yearly training, and universities must add stalking and domestic violence to compulsory crime reports.
Currently, all campuses are legally obligated to address rape after it is reported, but according to a report by the Justice Department, 95 percent of campus rapes are never reported to authorities. The Campus SaVE Act requires all schools to prioritize prevention through awareness programs for all new students and employees.
Little information has surfaced to explain why the Campus SaVE Act was removed from the bill in the first place. The office of Bob Goodlatte, the chairman of the Judiciary committee that drafted the House bill, had no comment. The offices of Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Majority leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., also declined comment.
The temporary removal of the language was confusing and upsetting to women’s groups..
“As a woman,” Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., said, “and as a woman of color, I am filled with rage.”
Moore, herself a victim of sexual assault, has been a leading voice in advocating a strong VAWA bill since its expiration in the 112th Congress.
There was one controversial aspect of the original Campus SaVE Act, a stipulation that reflects a debate that continues to rage about discipline on campuses nationwide.
The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, in an ongoing effort to combat campus rape, recommends a “preponderance of evidence” metric when conducting disciplinary hearings. In common terms, this standard means that in order for the student to be found guilty, he or she does not need to be “guilty beyond all reasonable doubt” as in U.S. criminal courts. Instead, the jury must be reasonably convinced, or more than 50 percent sure of the guilt of the accused.
The Office of Civil Rights contends that this standard is necessary to protect the rights of women, since ignoring or covering up sexual misconduct may be an easier option for some universities that often face lawsuits from convicted students.
The original version of the bill would have required that all U.S. colleges adopt the preponderance of evidence standard, but it was struck from the bill in order to protect the rights of accused students.
Though the question remains about why the preponderance of evidence standard was removed from the VAWA bill, women’s groups and advocates against violence on campus were relieved to see the Campus SaVE Act itself survive in the new law.
One in four women and 6 percent of men will be sexually assaulted in college. Advocates hope the SaVE Act can set in motion new standards to lower the frequency of violence.
“Ending sexual assault is not about politics,” Dunn said. “Ending violence against women is about justice. For victims like me and for victims everywhere.”
President Barack Obama praised the original 1994 law, saying it “changed our culture.”
Despite calling the new law “a victory” he underscored remaining obstacles to curtailing violence. He cited a new federal statistic that one in five American women will be raped in their lifetime. Those numbers reach as high as one in four on college campuses. Obama praised the supporters of the comprehensive law – including Vice President Joe Biden — and encouraged a continued fight for women’s safety.
“This is your day. This is the day of the advocates, the day of the survivors. This is your victory,” Obama said. “This victory shows that when the American people make their voices heard, Washington listens.”
