Bill ties federal funding for universities to accountability for sex abuse cases – The Detroit News
A bipartisan group of lawmakers reintroduced legislation in Congress Monday aimed at holding universities that receive federal funding accountable for sexual abuse cases involving employees.
U.S. Reps. Elissa Slotkin, Fred Upton and Lisa McClain and Sens. Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow reintroduced the Accountability of Leaders in Education to Report Title IX Investigations (ALERT) Act. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Illinois, also signed onto the legislation.
The act would require university leaders to submit an annual certification to the U.S. Secretary of Education acknowledging that the school’s president, or similar official, and at least one member of the school’s governing board have reviewed all sexual abuse investigations that were reported to the Title IX coordinator that year involving an employee.
The certification also would require leaders to confirm that the president and board members had not interfered with or inappropriately influenced any of those ongoing investigations.
“Culture is set from the top, and on a college campus, the senior administrators need to be fully informed about allegations of sexual harassment and assault by any and all university employees,” said Slotkin, D-Holly.