Kelly Johnson

CCSD 543
Prof. Sheridan
11/3/14
Campus SaVE Act
With the increased violence on college campuses around the country, universities
and those who implement policies on them are continually working to increase safety
measures across the board. When faced with the harrowing statistic of one in every four
women on a college campus being a victim of sexual assault (Mendoza, 2014), the
government stepped up and began constructing a resolution that would put standards in
place for reporting and action on college campuses. Ins March of 2014, the Campus
SaVE (Sexual Violence Elimination) Act was put into effect to decrease acts of sexual
violence, increase reporting, and also increase education and awareness.
Branching off of the Title IX requirements, the Campus SaVE Act has been put in
place to increase the protection of women on college campuses. Not only does the
Campus SaVE Act seek to protect women, but it has also set out to educate the
community about sexual violence. The hope is that by educating the community and,
therefore, increasing awareness, the incidence would decrease. The Campus SaVE Act is
also closely tied with the Clery Act, which is a mandated reporting system put in place on
college campuses. As part of the newest additions to the Campus SaVE Act, schools
must report compliance with the Campus Safety Act in their Annual Security Reports to
the Department of Education (Mendoza, 2014).

Through an interview with Shino Simons, the Associate Dean of Students and
lead deputy for Title IX on Azusa Pacific Universitys (APU) campus, we were able to
learn about the role that this act plays on APUs campus. When asked about her role
related to the SaVE Act, she stated that, as of right now, her role mainly deals with
programming. One of mandates of the SaVE act is for new faculty, staff, and students to
complete an educational module about sexual violence. We asked Shino how the SaVE
act has impacted compliance on APUs campus and were pleased to hear that APU was
actually implementing most, if not all, of the new standards of the SaVE Act. Shino also
mentioned that it simply takes up a lot of time because the campus was not simply given
additional staff to do the work, but that those in place just have to do it.
As an educator for Title IX, and now for the SaVE Act, one of Shinos
responsibilities is also to go around to other Student Life offices and educate their staff
and students. For example, she had a session with the new Resident Advisors (RA) during
their training time to educate them on Title IX issues.
In addition to interviewing Shino, we also interviewed Elaine Walton, the director
of the Womens Resource Center (WRC). Elaine plays the role of a Title IX deputy
coordinator while working in the WRC. Her perceptions of the SaVE Act were quite
positive and sated that adding the SaVE Act simply gave us the chance to see that we
were already doing a lot of the things and had things in place already (Walton interview,
2014).
When asked about their concerns with the SaVE Act, Shino and Elaine were able
to find just a couple. Elaine mentioned that on college campuses who were not in the
position to move forward with the new laws (not APUs campus), they might lose federal

funding. Bouffard, Smith, and Wilkes (2014) saw this predicament and stated that,
during the fast few years, several universities have been charged with violating federal
requirements (p. 1). For Shino, her concern came from a lack of clarity in the laws put
into place. When the new laws are put into place, she says, there are a lot of follow-up
questions as to the some of the specifics of each law. In some cases, the school simply
has to make an education decision about what the law implies and make the necessary
changes, hoping that they are within the bounds of the Act. Additionally, Shino
mentioned that keeping up with all of the changes can be difficult sometimes.
Fortunately, for APU, the school was already in a place of operating within most of the
standards put in place by the Campus SaVE Act, well before the laws were put into place.
Overall, the Campus SaVE Act has been accepted positively on APUs campus.
While some schools may find it difficult to keep up with the procedures, the government
has found it worthwhile to keep them in place. As Bouffard, Smith and Wilkes (2014)
have noted, given the high rates of sexual assault on colleges and universities and the
problems campuses have had in recent years responding to victims, it is important for all
campuses to consider how policies and procedures can be improved to more effectively
respond to incidents of sexual assault and to victims (p. 7).

Works Cited
Mendoza, S. (2014, Sep 22). Student safety, security and response time: Is your campus
in compliance? The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education, 24, 13-16.

Smith, M., Wilkes, N., & Bouffard, L. A. (2014, January). Sexual assault on college
campuses: Percetions and approaches of campus law enforcement officers. Crime
Victims' Institute.