II

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1493

To amend section 485(f)(1)(F) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to

provide for the disclosure of all criminal incidents that manifest evidence

of prejudice based on race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity,

or disability.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 9, 1997

Mr. TORRICELLI introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Labor and Human Resources

A BILL

To amend section 485(f)(1)(F) of the Higher Education Act

of 1965 to provide for the disclosure of all criminal

incidents that manifest evidence of prejudice based on

race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or

disability.

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

3 SECTION 1. DISCLOSURE.

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the

5 ‘‘Campus Hate Crimes Right to Know Act of 1997’’.

6 (b) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—
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1 (1) the incidence of violence on college cam2 puses based on race, gender, religion, sexual orienta3 tion, ethnicity, or disability poses a serious national

4 problem;

5 (2) such violence disrupts the tranquility and

6 safety of campuses and is deeply divisive;

7 (3) hate crimes include crimes in which the per8 petrator intentionally selects a victim because of the

9 actual or perceived race, gender, religion, sexual ori10 entation, ethnicity, or disability of the victim;

11 (4) existing Federal reporting requirements

12 only require colleges and universities to report hate

13 crimes that result in murder, rape, or aggravated as14 sault;

15 (5) existing reporting requirements are inad16 equate to deal with the problem of hate crimes since

17 the vast majority of hate crimes that occur on col18 lege campuses do not result in murder, rape, or ag19 gravated assault;

20 (6) existing reporting requirements are inad21 equate because the requirements do not require col22 leges and universities to report hate crimes that tar23 get victims because of the victims’ gender or disabil24 ity;
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1 (7) omitting certain hate crimes from official

2 campus crime reports may result in a false sense of

3 security among students and apathy from campus

4 officials;

5 (8) omitting certain hate crimes from official

6 campus crime reports deprives students and parents

7 of the students of vital information necessary to pro8 tect the students against such crimes and to make

9 informed decisions in choosing a college or univer10 sity;

11 (9) requiring postsecondary institutions to re12 port all hate crimes that occur on their campuses

13 will provide students and parents of the students

14 with vital information so that the students may bet15 ter protect themselves against such crimes; and

16 (10) requiring postsecondary institutions to re17 port all hate crimes that occur on their campuses

18 will encourage college officials to raise awareness

19 about such crimes and develop programs and strate20 gies to combat such crimes.

21 (c) AMENDMENT.—Section 485(f)(1)(F) of the High22 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1092(f)(1)(F)) is

23 amended—

24 (1) by redesignating clauses (i) through (vi) as

25 subclauses (I) through (VI), respectively;
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1 (2) by striking ‘‘Statistics’’ and inserting ‘‘(i)

2 Statistics’’; and

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

4 ‘‘(ii) Statistics concerning the occurrence on

5 campus, during the most recent calendar year, and

6 during the 2 preceding calendar years for which data

7 are available, of all criminal incidents that manifest

8 evidence of prejudice based on actual or perceived

9 race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity,

10 or disability that are reported to campus security

11 authorities or local police agencies. The statistics

12 shall be collected and reported according to category

13 of prejudice.’’.

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