II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1572 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 21, 2019 

Mr. PORTMAN (for himself and Ms. SMITH) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

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 ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

11 ‘‘(E) while a student is participating in a pro12 gram of study abroad approved for credit by an in13 stitution of higher education, distinguished by 

14 whether the criminal offense occurred at a location 

15 described in subparagraph (A), (B), (C), or (D), or 

16 at another location, without regard to whether the 

17 institution owns or controls a building or property at 

18 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 partici2 pating in any program under this title, other than a for3 eign institution of higher education, shall develop and dis4 tribute as part of the report described in paragraph (1), 

5 a statement that the institution has adopted and imple6 mented a program to protect students participating in a 

7 program of study abroad approved for credit by the insti8 tution from crime and harm while participating in such 

9 program of study abroad that, at a minimum, includes the 

10 following: 

11 ‘‘(i) A biennial review by the institution of the 

12 programs of study abroad approved for credit by the 

13 institution to determine— 

14 ‘‘(I) the effectiveness of the programs at 

15 protecting students from crime and harm, and 

16 whether changes to the programs are needed 

17 (based on the most recent guidance or other as18 sistance from the Secretary) and will be imple19 mented; 

20 ‘‘(II) for the 10 years preceding the date 

21 of the report, the number (in the aggregate for 

22 all programs of study abroad approved for cred23 it by the institution) of— 

24 ‘‘(aa) deaths of program participants 

25 occurring during program participation or 


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1 during any other activities during the 

2 study abroad period; 

3 ‘‘(bb) accidents and illnesses occurring 

4 during program participation that resulted 

5 in hospitalization; 

6 ‘‘(cc) sexual assaults against program 

7 participants occurring during program par8 ticipation; and 

9 ‘‘(dd) incidents involving program 

10 participants during the program participa11 tion that resulted in police involvement or 

12 a police report; and 

13 ‘‘(III) with respect to the incidents de14 scribed in items (aa) through (dd) of subclause 

15 (II), whether the incidents occurred— 

16 ‘‘(aa) on campus; 

17 ‘‘(bb) in or on a noncampus building 

18 or property; 

19 ‘‘(cc) on public property; 

20 ‘‘(dd) in dormitories or other residen21 tial facilities for students; or 

22 ‘‘(ee) at a location not described in 

23 items (aa) through (dd) of this subclause, 

24 without regard to whether the institution 


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1 owns or controls a building or property at 

2 the location. 

3 ‘‘(ii) The crime statistics described in para4 graph (12)(E). 

5 ‘‘(B) An institution of higher education described in 

6 subparagraph (A) shall— 

7 ‘‘(i) provide each student who is interested in 

8 participating in a program of study abroad approved 

9 for credit by the institution, with a pre-trip orienta10 tion session and advising that includes— 

11 ‘‘(I) a list of countries in which such pro12 grams of study abroad are located; 

13 ‘‘(II) all current travel information, includ14 ing all travel warnings and travel alerts, issued 

15 by the Bureau of Consular Affairs of the De16 partment of State for such countries; and 

17 ‘‘(III) the information described in clauses 

18 (i) and (ii) of subparagraph (A), provided spe19 cifically for each program of study abroad ap20 proved for credit by the institution in which the 

21 student is considering participation; and 

22 ‘‘(ii) provide each student who returns from 

23 such a program of study abroad with a post-trip ori24 entation session, including an exit interview that asVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:11 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1572.IS S1572

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1 sists the institution in carrying out subparagraph 

2 (A) and clause (i) of this subparagraph. 

3 ‘‘(C) An institution of higher education shall not 

4 disaggregate or otherwise distinguish information for pur5 poses of subparagraph (A) or (B) in a case in which the 

6 number of students in a category is insufficient to yield 

7 statistically reliable information or the results would reveal 

8 personally identifiable information about an individual 

9 student. 

10 ‘‘(D) The Secretary shall periodically review a rep11 resentative sample of the programs described in subpara12 graph (A) that have been adopted and implemented by in13 stitutions of higher education to protect students partici14 pating in a program of study abroad described in subpara15 graph (A) from crime and harm while participating in 

16 such program of study abroad.’’. 

Æ 


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