Notice2024-01323
Request for Information on Sexual Violence at Educational Institutions
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
January 24, 2024
Issuing agencies
Education Department
Abstract
This notice is a request for information in the form of written comments that include information, research, and suggestions regarding the prevention and response to sexual violence on campuses of educational institutions.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 16 (Wednesday, January 24, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 16 (Wednesday, January 24, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4598-4599]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-01323]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
[Docket ID ED-2023-OPE-0207]
Request for Information on Sexual Violence at Educational
Institutions
AGENCY: Office of Postsecondary Education and Office of Elementary and
Secondary Education, U.S. Department of Education.
ACTION: Request for information.
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SUMMARY: This notice is a request for information in the form of
written comments that include information, research, and suggestions
regarding the prevention and response to sexual violence on campuses of
educational institutions.
DATES: We must receive your comments by March 11, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Comments must be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking
Portal at <a href="http://regulations.gov">regulations.gov</a>. However, if you require an accommodation or
cannot otherwise submit your comments via <a href="http://regulations.gov">regulations.gov</a>, please
contact the program contact person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT. The Department will not accept comments by email or by fax. To
ensure that the Department does not receive duplicate copies, please
submit your comments only once. Additionally, please include the Docket
ID at the top of your comments.
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a> to submit
your comments electronically. Information on using Regulations.gov,
including instructions for accessing agency documents, submitting
comments, and viewing the docket, is available on the site under the
``FAQ'' tab.
Privacy Note: The Department's policy for comments received from
members of the public is to make these submissions available for
public viewing in their entirety on the Federal eRulemaking Portal
at <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>. Therefore, commenters should be careful to
include in their comments only information that they wish to make
publicly available. We encourage, but do not require, that each
respondent include their name, title, institution or affiliation,
and the name, title, mailing and email addresses, and telephone
number of a contact person for the institution or affiliation, if
any.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Amanda Miller. Telephone: (202) 453-
6914. You may also email your questions to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#46072b27282227680b2f2a2a233406232268212930"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="3c7d515d52585d1271555050594e7c5958125b534a">[email protected]</span></a>, but as
described above, comments must be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking
Portal at <a href="http://regulations.gov">regulations.gov</a>.
If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability and
wish to access telecommunications relay services, please dial 7-1-1.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background: Section 1314 of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)
Reauthorization Act of 2022, Public Law 117-103, div. W, 136 Stat. 840,
936-38 (2022), requires the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of
Health and Human Services, and the Attorney General to establish a
joint interagency task force to be known as the ``Task Force on Sexual
Violence in Education'' (hereinafter the Task Force) to provide
information and recommendations, solicit information from relevant
stakeholders, and create a plan to address sexual violence in
education. The Biden-Harris Administration remains committed to
preventing and responding to gender-based violence, including sexual
violence in education, wherever it occurs and in all of its forms.
Specifically, the Task Force is to provide recommendations to
educational institutions on: establishing prevention and response
teams; providing survivor resources, including health care, sexual
assault kits, sexual assault nurse examiners, culturally responsive and
inclusive standards of care, trauma-informed services, and access to
confidential advocacy and support services; best practices on responses
to and prevention of sexual violence and dating violence; sex
education, as appropriate, training for school staff and various
equitable discipline models; and culturally responsive and inclusive
approaches to supporting survivors. The law defines ``educational
institution'' as ``an institution of higher education, an elementary
school, or a secondary school.''
The VAWA Reauthorization Act also directs the Task Force to solicit
periodic input from a diverse group of survivors, trauma specialists,
advocates from national, State, and local anti-sexual violence advocacy
organizations, institutions of higher education, and other public
stakeholders. The goal of this request for information is to ensure the
Task Force is receiving feedback and input from a diverse group of
stakeholders.
Solicitation of Comments: When responding to this RFI, please
address one or more of the following questions. Please note if your
responses refer to elementary, secondary, or postsecondary educational
settings, or more than one.
(1) What factors and best practices should educational institutions
consider when establishing sexual assault prevention and response
teams, including for online threats, harassment and intimidation, and
other forms of technological abuse?
(2) How can educational institutions best provide survivor
resources, including health care, sexual assault kits, sexual assault
nurse examiners, culturally responsive and linguistically inclusive
standards of care, trauma-informed services, academic supports, and
access to confidential advocacy and support services?
(3) What best practices should educational institutions consider
for responding to and preventing sexual violence and dating violence on
their campuses, including the online environment, and which may take
into consideration an institution's educational level, size, and
resources?
(4) What factors should be considered as educational institutions
develop or implement sex education programs, as appropriate, for
students, training initiatives for school staff in sexual violence
prevention, and equitably designed and applied discipline models?
(5) What are culturally responsive and linguistically inclusive
approaches to supporting survivors, which include consideration of
race; ethnicity; national origin; limited English proficiency;
religion; immigration status; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender;
queer or intersex (LGBTQI+) status; ability;
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disability; socio-economic status; exposure to trauma, and other
compounding factors?
(6) What are promising practices for engaging student groups,
community organizations or families of students in efforts to prevent
and address sexual violence and dating violence?
(7) In what ways can the Federal Government support educational
institutions in improving the prevention of, and response to, sexual
violence and dating violence, including online threats, harassment and
intimidation, and other forms of technological abuse?
If you are aware of any supportive research (qualitative or
quantitative) or promising practices, please include citations,
websites, or other information that will enable the Task Force to learn
more.
This is a request for information only. This RFI is not a request
for proposals (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP or a notice inviting
applications. This RFI does not commit the Department to contract for
any supply or service whatsoever. Further, we are not seeking proposals
and will not accept unsolicited proposals. The Department will not pay
for any information or administrative costs that you may incur in
responding to this RFI. The documents and information submitted in
response to this RFI become the property of the U.S. Government and
will not be returned.
Accessible Format: By request to the program contact person listed
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, individuals with disabilities
can obtain this document in an accessible format. The Department will
provide the requestor with an accessible format that may include Rich
Text Format (RTF) or text format (txt), a thumb drive, an MP3 file,
braille, large print, audiotape, or compact disc, or other accessible
format.
Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this
document is the document published in the Federal Register. You may
access the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of
Federal Regulations at <a href="http://www.govinfo.gov">www.govinfo.gov</a>. At this site you can view this
document, as well as all other documents of this Department published
in the Federal Register, in text or Portable Document Format (PDF). To
use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at
the site.
You may also access documents of the Department published in the
Federal Register by using the article search feature at
<a href="http://www.federalregister.gov">www.federalregister.gov</a>. Specifically, through the advanced search
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published
by the Department.
Nasser Paydar,
Assistant Secretary, Office of Postsecondary Education.
Adam Schott,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Programs, Delegated the
Authority to Perform the Functions and Duties of the Assistant
Secretary, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education.
[FR Doc. 2024-01323 Filed 1-23-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P
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