By Lorna Hartman

Staff Writer

[email protected]

EWU will report additional types of crimes and provide further education to faculty, staff and students due to new requirements in the Violence Against Women Act, which was renewed in February.

According to Govtrack.us, the government’s site for posting the text of congressional bills that are being considered or have already passed, the Violence Against Women Act was first passed in 1994.

The text of the bill shows that college campus requirements are only one section of the Violence Against Women Act, which funds domestic violence programs, legal assistance for victims, youth violence prevention programs and other related programs for both men and women throughout the U.S.

According to a Violence Against Women Act summary by the National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence, “The annual incidence of domestic violence has dropped more than 50 percent since VAWA became law … [and] reporting of domestic violence has increased as much as 51 percent.”

The summary, however, cited the CDC’s 2010 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, which found that 1 in 4 women in the U.S. has been a victim of severe physical domestic violence and 1 in 5 women has been raped in her lifetime.

“The biggest change to me was the expanding of what constitutes an offense that’s covered under the Clery Act, expanding it to include domestic violence, stalking and dating violence,” said Trent Lutey, EWU policy administrator.

The current policy lists violent crimes EWU police must track and report. These reports will now include statistics on domestic violence, dating violence and stalking incidents that are reported.

EWU reports already include a section on hate crimes in which “the victim is intentionally selected because of the actual or perceived race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity or disability.” of the victim. ”

Due to Violence Against Women Act requirements, “national origin” and “gender identity” have been added to this list.

Associate to the President Laurie Connelly said, “The whole idea is that institutions have to keep track and report it, so it creates a change as far as being able to get a better handle on what is happening on campus.

“I don’t think that anyone has thought for years that [colleges] have very good numbers; reporting is low. So that’s the challenge, to get it reported and addressed. This is, I think, another tool to try to make sure we’re tracking.”

The act also directs campuses to keep the names of victims confidential and to make timely reports to the campus community of violent crimes. These reports are to include a policy statement with information about campus prevention programs for domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking, as well as what procedures the college will follow when a violent crime is reported.

According to EWU’s current Clery policy, reports are required to include information about education programs to promote awareness of rape and acquaintance rape. The Violence Against Women Act has now added domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking to the list of education programs.

Preliminary wording for updating the clery policy requires all new employees and incoming students to receive information through primary prevention and awareness programs. It also requires EWU to provide ongoing prevention and awareness campaigns for students and faculty.

These programs are to include definitions of violent crimes, the definition of sexual consent, safe bystander intervention options and recognizing warning signs of violent behavior.

“I can imagine that the police who are involved with the reporting [are] going to have to go to another training session, because it’s already complex how they have to classify the crimes,” said Lutey. “And now it’s broader.”

According to Lutey, changes to the student conduct code due to the Violence Against Women Act are underway and will be posted on the Eastern website for public comment some time this quarter. Revisions to EWU’s Campus Safety, Security and Crime Prevention policy are also expected to be drafted this quarter.