Higher Education Anti-harassment Act reintroduced in U.S. Senate

[William769]

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) on Thursday reintroduced legislation that would require colleges and universities receiving federal student aid funding to enact an anti-harassment policy.

The Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act of 2014 would mandate policies that prohibit harassment of students by their peers, faculty and staff based on actual or perceived race, color, national origin, sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or religion, and require colleges to distribute their anti-harassment policy to all students and employees.

The bill, which also prohibits cyber-bullying, would create a grant program at the Department of Education in which institutions could apply for funding to initiate, expand or improve programs to comply with its requirements.

The legislation was first introduced by the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg after Tyler Clementi, a gay freshman at Rutgers University who committed suicide in 2010 after his roommate placed a camera in their dorm room and streamed images onto the internet of Clementi’s intimate same-sex encounter.

http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2014/03/higher-education-anti-harassment-act-reintroduced-in-u-s-senate/

[mike_c]

1. while this is a great idea-- and already the policy at the California State University...

...it needs to be beefed up to specifically include and enforce anti-harassment of faculty by students. We currently have cases of female faculty members being cyber-bullied by students protected by anonymity during online class evaluations. Despite anti-harassment protection in our contract, as well as state and federal law, a few students engage in vile, sexist and racist attacks via anonymous evaluations, and the university administration is on record as favoring student expectations of anonymity over faculty rights under the contract to a harassment free work place.

[William769]

2. I agree with that.