Did you know that the House passed Canter/Adams Violence Against Women Act reauthorization left out the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination (SaVE) program that is designed to protect young women on college campuses who are victims of sexual assault?
Over the past few weeks a lot of the discussions on the blogosphere about the House version of VAWA has been centered around removal of critical provisions in the Senate bill that provide protections for Native American women, LGBT and immigrant victims. But the House has important new provisions for college women were also left out of the House passed “fake” VAWA.
According to Campus Safety Magazine, the Campus SaVE program would require colleges or universities to report instances of sexual assault and dating violence. In a recent study, Break the Cycle reported that 43% of college women have experienced dating violence and abuse. Of these young women, 60% did not receive help in prosecuting their offenders. The House version of VAWA ignores the realities women are experiencing on college campuses.
Campus SaVE would ensure that victims are given adequate information about their rights regarding law enforcement and would help empower young women to report instances of sexual assault, dating violence and abuse. Increasing the amount of reports would not only help bring justice to more victims, but would deter future violent acts from occurring. In addition, Campus SaVE would create education and prevention programs, therefore increasing awareness of the instances of sexual assault and dating violence. Exposing these realities would result in helping young women and men to recognize and take action when faced with sexual assault in both their personal lives and in their community.
It is unacceptable that the House version of VAWA left out Campus SaVE.
