I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3551 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require additional reporting 

on crime and harm that occurs during student participation in programs 

of study abroad, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 17, 2015 

Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York (for himself, Mr. GIBSON, and Mr. 

SCOTT of Virginia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require 

additional reporting on crime and harm that occurs during student participation in programs of study abroad, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ravi Thackurdeen Safe 

5 Students Study Abroad Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. APPLICATION OF CLERY ACT TO PROGRAMS OF 

2 STUDY ABROAD. 

3 (a) REPORTING OF CRIME STATISTICS.—Paragraph 

4 (12) of section 485(f) of the Higher Education Act of 

5 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1092(f)) is amended— 

6 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara7 graph (C); 

8 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub9 paragraph (D) and inserting a semicolon; and 

10 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(E) while a student is participating in a 

12 program of study abroad approved for credit by 

13 an institution of higher education, distinguished 

14 by whether the criminal offense occurred at a 

15 location described in subparagraph (A), (B), 

16 (C), or (D), or at another location, without re17 gard to whether the institution owns or controls 

18 a building or property at such location.’’. 

19 (b) ADDITIONAL REPORTING FOR PROGRAMS OF

20 STUDY ABROAD.—Section 485(f) of the Higher Education 

21 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1092(f)) is amended— 

22 (1) by redesignating paragraph (18) as para23 graph (19); and 

24 (2) by inserting after paragraph (17), the fol25 lowing new paragraph: 


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1 ‘‘(18)(A) Each institution of higher education 

2 participating in any program under this title, other 

3 than a foreign institution of higher education, shall 

4 develop and distribute as part of the report de5 scribed in paragraph (1), a statement that the insti6 tution has adopted and implemented a program to 

7 protect students participating in a program of study 

8 abroad approved for credit by the institution from 

9 crime and harm while participating in such program 

10 of study abroad that, at a minimum, includes the 

11 following: 

12 ‘‘(i) A biennial review by the institu13 tion of the programs of study abroad ap14 proved for credit by the institution to de15 termine— 

16 ‘‘(I) the effectiveness of the pro17 grams at protecting students from 

18 crime and harm, and whether changes 

19 to the programs are needed (based on 

20 the most recent guidance or other as21 sistance from the Secretary) and will 

22 be implemented; 

23 ‘‘(II) for the 10 years preceding 

24 the date of the report, the number (in 

25 the aggregate for all programs of 


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1 study abroad approved for credit by 

2 the institution) of— 

3 ‘‘(aa) deaths of program 

4 participants resulting during pro5 gram participation; 

6 ‘‘(bb) accidents and illnesses 

7 occurring during program partici8 pation that resulted in hos9 pitalization; 

10 ‘‘(cc) sexual assaults against 

11 program participants occurring 

12 during program participation; 

13 and 

14 ‘‘(dd) incidents involving 

15 program participants during the 

16 program participation that re17 sulted in police involvement or a 

18 police report; and 

19 ‘‘(III) with respect to the inci20 dents described in items (aa) through 

21 (dd) of subclause (II), whether the in22 cidents occurred— 

23 ‘‘(aa) on campus; 

24 ‘‘(bb) in or on a noncampus 

25 building or property; 


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1 ‘‘(cc) on public property; 

2 ‘‘(dd) in dormitories or other 

3 residential facilities for students; 

4 or 

5 ‘‘(ee) at a location not de6 scribed in items (aa) through 

7 (dd) of this subclause, without 

8 regard to whether the institution 

9 owns or controls a building or 

10 property at the location. 

11 ‘‘(ii) The crime statistics described in 

12 paragraph (12)(E). 

13 ‘‘(B) An institution of higher education de14 scribed in subparagraph (A) shall— 

15 ‘‘(i) provide each student who is interested 

16 in participating in a program of study abroad 

17 approved for credit by the institution, with a 

18 pre-trip orientation session and advising that 

19 includes— 

20 ‘‘(I) a list of countries in which such 

21 programs of study abroad are located; 

22 ‘‘(II) all current travel information, 

23 including all travel warnings and travel 

24 alerts, issued by the Bureau of Consular 


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1 Affairs of the Department of State for 

2 such countries; and 

3 ‘‘(III) the information described in 

4 clauses (i) and (ii) of subparagraph (A), 

5 provided specifically for each program of 

6 study abroad approved for credit by the in7 stitution in which the student is consid8 ering participation; and 

9 ‘‘(ii) provide each student who returns 

10 from such a program of study abroad with a 

11 post-trip orientation session, including an exit 

12 interview that assists the institution in carrying 

13 out subparagraph (A) and clause (i) of this sub14 paragraph. 

15 ‘‘(C) An institution of higher education shall 

16 not disaggregate or otherwise distinguish informa17 tion for purposes of subparagraph (A) or (B) in a 

18 case in which the number of students in a category 

19 is insufficient to yield statistically reliable informa20 tion or the results would reveal personally identifi21 able information about an individual student. 

22 ‘‘(D) The Secretary shall periodically review a 

23 representative sample of the programs described in 

24 subparagraph (A) that have been adopted and imple25 mented by institutions of higher education to protect 


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1 students participating in a program of study abroad 

2 described in subparagraph (A) from crime and harm 

3 while participating in such program of study 

4 abroad.’’. 

Æ 


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