University of California President Janet Napolitano testified before a U.S. Senate committee Wednesday to support the creation of legislation that aims to prevent and report campus sexual assault nationwide.
The Senate committee is considering passing the Campus Accountability and Safety Act, a bipartisan bill that would require campuses to record how often sexual assaults occur at their schools. The bill would also require schools to provide confidential advisers for assault survivors.
Napolitano testified as part of a U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. She made recommendations to the committee based on previous UC actions to prevent sexual violence.
Senate committee members discussed further efforts that could help prevent sexual assault.
Napolitano recently required all incoming UC freshmen receive additional training in recognizing, reporting and preventing sexual assault. The training will now include all other students, faculty and staff, adding up to over 400,000 people, Napolitano said.
The UC system established a systemwide task force in July 2014 that identified eight key recommendations intended to prevent, report and respond to sexual violence.
The recommendations included creating a systemwide website with resources, establishing a confidential counselor for each survivor and providing appropriate support services.
Four of these recommendations have already been enacted by the UC system, and the remaining four will be implemented by January 2016, Napolitano said.
Complied by Laurel Scott, Bruin contributor.