Sen. Frank Lautenberg and Rep. Rush Holt reintroduced the Tyler Clementi Higher Eduction Anti-Harassment Act Thursday, which would require colleges that receive federal money to adopt policies that prohibit harassment based on sexual orientation, race and gender.
SFPA reporter Kate Havard covered the bill and what free speech groups like FIRE and the Student Press Law Center say could be problem areas with the bill:
If passed, the act would require the “disclosure of campus security and harassment policy and campus crime statistics” from all institutions of higher education that receive federal aid. The hope is colleges will bolster and enforce harassment codes on campus.
Civil liberties groups, however, are concerned that the act empowers a system of administrators that they feel are already too powerful.
“Rather than taking [a harassment claim] to court, the issue will get handled by these campus courts, which are conducted in secrecy, without due process, without public oversight, by administrators with varying experience with the law,” said Mike Hiestand, legal counsel for the Student Press Law Center. “It’s basically a free-for-all.”
The critical difference between this new bill and the laws already on the books, according to Hiestand, is that it redefines what constitutes “harassment.”
“The bill’s new definition is very broad,” he said. “It’s wishy-washy, and any time that a legal definition is not tightly worded, it opens up the potential for abuse.”
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