Proposed legislation in the U.S. Senate could force the Syracuse University Department of Public Safety to add to the list of crimes it includes in its annual safety report.

The Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act, introduced to the Senate April 14 by Robert P. Casey Jr. (D-Pa.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.), would require universities and colleges to include dating violence, domestic violence and stalking in their annual crime reports, according to an April 15 news release from the nonprofit Security on Campus.

DPS does not include those three areas in its annual report, though it does keep track of them outside of the report, said Jenn Horvath, public information officer for DPS. If the legislation passes, DPS will include the three areas in its annual report, which includes crime statistics from the past three calendar years, Horvath said.

DPS officers will probably meet after the academic year ends to discuss any changes that need to be made in the report, Horvath said. The report is due Oct. 1, but Horvath typically starts working on it in June and completes it by the first weekend of school.

Besides gathering statistics on domestic violence, dating violence and stalking, the proposed legislation would give victims their rights in writing and add educational programs to make these incidents less tolerable in campus communities, according to the release from Security on Campus, which aims to prevent violence at college campuses. Nearly 20 organizations, including Security on Campus, have endorsed the legislation.

With the additional statistics, colleges would also get a better scope of these problems, said Daniel Carter, director of public policy for Security on Campus.

‘You can’t address a problem if you don’t know how big it is,’ he said.

Individuals in the age range of 16 to 24 experience the highest rates of abuse in dating relationships, said Juley Fulcher, director of policy programs at Break the Cycle, a nonprofit that works to stop abuse and dating violence with teens.

‘There is certainly the issue of lack of education and experience on the rights and responsibilities that come with a relationship,’ Fulcher said.

The proposed legislation would also help universities implement better prevention programs against dating violence, domestic violence and stalking, as they are three issues that are common among students, Fulcher said.

mcboren@syr.edu

Published on April 20, 2011 at 12:00 pm