Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)

Negotiated Rulemaking Committee Meetings

Opening Remarks of 

Brenda Dann-Messier, Acting Assistant Secretary for the Office of Postsecondary 

Education, U.S. Department of Education

January 13, 2014

 Good morning. My name is Brenda Dann-Messier, and I am the Acting Assistant 

Secretary for the Office of Postsecondary Education here at the Department of 

Education.

 Welcome to the Department and to the first of three negotiating sessions that 

will focus on developing new regulations that will implement the parts of the 

Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) that amend the Clery Act.

 Since VAWA was signed by President Obama in March of last year, developing 

and implementing regulations has been a high priority for the Department of 

Education. 

 Our Administration is deeply concerned about the prevalence of sexual assault, 

domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking at our Nation’s colleges and 

universities.

 Even one such incident of violence is one incident too many. We know 

that students cannot be successful if they do not feel safe and welcome 

on campus.

 That’s why Secretary Duncan has repeatedly stressed his strong and 

unwavering commitment to eradicating sexual violence and 

harassment from our nation’s institutions of higher education and 

ensuring that all campuses are safe places for all students to learn and 

grow.

 As Secretary Duncan has also noted, the start of today’s negotiated 

rulemaking session is a particularly important step in these efforts.

 As part of this rulemaking, we are committed to providing an open and 

transparent process while keeping in mind that the issues on which we will be 

negotiating are complex and emotionally charged.
 Our goal is to learn from the diverse viewpoints at the table and from 

the public, and to work together to craft a rule that will ensure that 

colleges and universities across the country take action to prevent and 

respond promptly and effectively to incidents of sexual assault, 

domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking when they occur.

 With this in mind, we wish to focus our efforts on creating a rule that 

respects the right of all students to a safe environment, fair and equal 

treatment, and due process. 

 Ultimately, our aim is that this rulemaking will bring us a step closer to 

ensuring that all institutions of higher education in our country are 

safe places where all students can pursue their education free of sexual 

violence and harassment.

 During this process, we also seek to create clear and manageable

guidelines for institutions of higher education. It is our goal to 

implement effective policies with a minimum of burden on those 

charged with carrying them out.

 Those of you around the negotiating table represent years of experience and 

extraordinary dedication to ensuring the safety of our nation’s students. 

 You have already been very helpful to us in the conversations leading 

up to this session, and we look forward to continued collaboration 

with you.

 The work that you are doing today is critical to the development of 

sound regulations that will promote the creation of safe environments 

on college campuses across the country. 

 We are grateful to all of you for your willingness to share your collective 

knowledge with us as we work through these challenging issues, and on behalf 

of Secretary Duncan, thank you for participating in this important rulemaking, 

and for sharing your expertise and experience with us.