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CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY

BOB WIECKOWSKI
ASSEMBLYMEMBER, TWENTY-FIFTH DISTRICT




THERE OUGHT TO BE A LAW

Name: Brendan Lin

1) WHAT IS THE PROBLEM THAT NEEDS A LEGISLATIVE
SOLUTION?

All across the nation, in California as well as in other states, there have been
cases where complaints of sexual assault at high schools and universities
have been ignored, covered up, or not dealt with appropriately by school
administrators. The federal law that deals with this is Title IX of the
Education Amendments of 1972. Title IX requires schools which receive
federal funding to adequately protect their students from sexual harassment
and retaliation. This means they need to take steps such as promptly
conducting investigations after any sexual harassment complaint, taking
effective steps to end the harassment, and referring all victims to the school
districts Title IX Coordinator (a trained individual who conducts oversight
in order to ensure schools comply with this law),

These mandated investigations have been circumvented by administrators in
various ways, such as denying knowledge of the initial complaint and/or its
legitimacy. It is not the administrators place to make such a determination;
a thorough investigation must be conducted and the districts Title IX
Coordinator must be made available to the individual who filed the
complaint. Despite this, however, principals have broken this law in both
high schools and universities across the country (for example, Framingham
High School and Occidental College). Even one cover-up is one too many.

Furthermore, there have been instances where even if school investigations
find evidence of wrongdoing, the suspected perpetrators have received
disproportionately light punishments, such as one-week suspensions, five-
STATE CAPITOL
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0020
Phone: (916) 319-2025
Fax: (916) 319-2125

DISTRICT OFFICE
39510 Paseo Padre Parkway,
Suite 280
Fremont, CA 94538
Phone: (510) 440-9030
Fax: (510) 440-9035

E-MAIL
assemblymember.wieckowski@
assembly.ca.gov

Standing Committees
Judiciary (Chair)
Health
Insurance
Public Employment, Retirement,
and Social Security


WEBSITE
http://asmdc.org/members/a25/

page book reports, apology letter writing, or just stern lectures. These
instances have allowed the offenders to return to campus and to freely
frequent the same area as the victims. This is in clear violation of Title IX
because it increases the danger of retaliation, as well as the potential for
other victims. The traumatized harassed individual is forced to continue
going to the same school and the same classes as their molester.

In a HuffPost Live interview, Danielle Dirks, Assistant Professor of
Sociology at Occidental College, suggests that a reason administrators may
be covering up these sexual harassment incidents is because it may lead to
sanctions, a decrease in alumni donations, or simply a tarnished public
image.

In addition, according to an NBC Bay Area investigative report, less than
half of 200 principals contacted in the Bay Area were even aware of Title IX
procedures. Some never made available the information about who the
district Title IX Coordinator was; this is a clear violation of federal law.
Some had simply never heard of the law in the first place. This also
contributes greatly to their negligence in handling these situations. The U.S.
Department of Education, responsible for making sure schools comply with
Title IX, rarely investigates these matters. The news of mishandled cases
usually never reaches the DOE.


2) WHAT IS YOUR SOLUTION? Please attach proposed language, if
any. Be as detailed as possible, attaching extra sheets if needed.

Because it appears that an alarming number of schools are negligent in their
Title IX duties, the State of California should take the sexual assault
investigative process out of the hands of the administrators and assist the
beleaguered U.S. Department of Education in ensuring schools comply with
Title IX.

A possible solution would be to form independent, County-based
commissions whose role it is to investigate these sexual assault complaints.
There must be no conflict of interest, so this commission should be
independent from any school, school district, and local government. There
needs to be a well-publicized phone number that victims can call which will
automatically put them in contact with a local commission office. This local
office should have the manpower and legal authority to physically visit
schools, conduct their own investigations, and force offenders to be expelled
or otherwise properly punished if the claims are true. This commission could
also report non-compliance with Title IX to the U.S. Department of
Educations Office of Civil Rights so that sanctions may be placed on the
schools. There should be one state-funded local office for every County.
Each office would have a dedicated staff of phone answerers and
investigators. The initial size of each office may be determined by the
population of students in the County.

Since schools are still legally obligated by Title IX to conduct their own
impartial investigations, commission investigations will run concurrently
with school investigations. The schools findings will be taken into account
when a commission decision is made; the commission will have the final say
on whether there was any wrongdoing.

An alternative proposal would be the stationing of one commission official
at every single education institution that falls within the mandate of Title IX
in the State of California, rather than have local county-based offices. This
official would be responsible for overseeing every aspect of any school
investigation. This official should be independent from the school system
and should be able to be contacted by any victim. This official should have
the final decision about the outcome of a school investigation. While this
may save money, it may be problematic for rural schools. In addition, the
existence of Title IX Coordinators has not always prevented negligence like
it should. Simple oversight may not be enough.

3) BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Please include any studies,
reports, newspaper articles, personal experience, or anecdotal
evidence relating to your proposal.

This mishandling of school sexual assault cases appears to be widespread. A
2013 Huffington Post article states that
When University of Southern California student Tucker Reed was sexually
assaulted in 2010, she turned to school officials. But instead of helping to bring
her justice, she said, their ignorance and indifference further traumatized her.
She said a USC official told her the goal was not to "punish" her assailant, but
rather to offer an educative process.
Rape is not an educative experience, Reed said. It is a crushing, life-altering,
inhuman violence.
Feeling like she had no other options, Reed on Wednesday filed a formal
complaint with U.S. Department of Education, claiming USC's administration
failed to respond adequately to the assault. Students and alumni who were assault
victims at three other prestigious schools -- University of California, Berkeley;
Dartmouth College; and Swarthmore College -- filed similar claims alleging the
schools failed to properly adjudicate campus sex crimes.
According to various news sources, similar situations have happened at
Framingham High School, Occidental College, and many other institutions
of learning.
I also have a personal anecdote. One of my friends in high school was a
victim of repeated sexual molestation by another student when she was a
sophomore. The molester was a junior at the time. He would follow her into
the bathroom at school, threaten her, and touch her inappropriately against
her will. She lived in constant fear; in fact, she was too intimidated to even
tell us. When we found out, we had to convince her to tell somebody. That
somebody was a school administrator. She and the molester were both
interviewed by faculty, given a stern lecture, and that was the extent of the
punishment. The administrator claimed that, because she had not come
forward until that point and because she was didnt fully resist his come-ons
(she was too terrified of retaliation), she had probably consented to the
sexual contact. This was for the investigation to judge, not the administrator.
My friends parents, full of rage and pain, visited the school office multiple
times to demand that things be done. Nothing ever happened, and, one year
later, this sexual molester graduated with the rest of his class. The victims
group of friends, of which I was a member, had to follow her around campus
every time she was out of class because of the danger of retaliation from the
molester. Her family is now broken and traumatized. Her parents are
untrusting of everyone she comes into contact with. The person who did this
graduated happily with nothing more than a talking-to because the school
administration tried to keep the complaint secret. Similar events have
happened in high schools across the state, and it cannot be allowed to
continue any further.


4) ARE YOU AWARE OF SIMILAR LEGISLATION PREVIOUSLY
INTRODUCED IN CALIFORNIA OR IN OTHER STATES? If so,
please include the author, bill number, and outcome of the legislation:

AB-883 (Cooley) Currently in Assembly Committee on Human Services.
It sets up a support system based at the County level.


5) PLEASE DESCRIBE ANY FINANCIAL IMPACTS (i.e., costs,
savings, or revenue) YOU ANTICIPATE MAY BE ASSOCIATED
WITH YOUR PROPOSAL:

The independent commission proposal would require appropriations from
the General Fund in order to fund the operations of the local offices. Offices
may be downsized or grown depending on the frequency of reports in each
particular county.

There could also be fundraising activities run by each individual office, as
well as incentives for the Counties themselves to fund at least a portion of
the commissions activities.


6) WHO DO YOU THINK WOULD SUPPORT THE BILL (List interest
groups that support the bill)?

United States Student Association
National Organization for Women
League of Women Voters
California National Association for Women
American Association of University Women of California
Crime Victims United of California
Childrens Advocacy Institute
National Parent Teacher Association
Vote Kids
Childrens Defense Fund
National Network for Youth


7) WHO DO YOU THINK WOULD OPPOSE THE BILL (List interest
groups that oppose the bill)?

National Association of Secondary School Principals
Association of California School Administrators


8) BESIDES ASSEMBLYMEMBER WIECKOWSKI, WHICH
ASSEMBLYMEMBER WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE CO-AUTHOR
THIS BILL?

Assemblymember Ken Cooley, 8
th
Assembly District


9) ASSUMING IT REACHES THE SENATE, WHICH SENATOR
WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE INTRODUCE THE BILL IN THE
SENATE?

Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson, 19
th
Senatorial District
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Sources:
Huffington Post Occidental College Sexual Assault Response Subject of
Federal Complaints
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/19/occidental-sexual-
assault_n_3118563.html

MetroWest Daily News Framingham High Students Protest Lack of
Response to Sexual Assaults
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x609793522/Students-protest-at-
Framingham-High-School

National Womens Law Center Title IX Protections From Bullying and
Harassment.
http://www.nwlc.org/resource/title-ix-protections-bullying-harassment-
school-faqs-students

U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights Sexual
Harassment- Its Not Academic
http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/ocrshpam.html#_rt3d

NBC Bay Area Bay Area Schools Ignoring Title IX?
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigations/Ignoring-Title-IX-
176518411.html

U.S. Department of Justice Title IX Legal Manual
http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/cor/coord/ixlegal.php#C

Huffington Post Sexual Assaults Mishandled At Dartmouth, Swarthmore,
USC, Complaints Say
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/23/sexual-assaults-mishandled-
dartmouth-swarthmore_n_3321939.html

HuffPost Live Why Schools Cover Up Sexual Assault
http://on.aol.com/video/why-schools-cover-up-sexual-assault-517849801