Ravi Thackurdeen Safe Students Study Abroad Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2875 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require additional reporting on crime and harm that occurs during student participation in programs of study abroad, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 21, 2019 Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require additional reporting on crime and harm that occurs dur- ing student participation in programs of study abroad, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ravi Thackurdeen Safe 4 Students Study Abroad Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2875.IH H2875 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 2875 IH SEC. 2. APPLICATION OF CLERY ACT TO PROGRAMS OF 1 STUDY ABROAD. 2 (a) REPORTING OF CRIME STATISTICS.—Paragraph 3 (12) of section 485(f) of the Higher Education Act of 4 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1092(f)) is amended— 5 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara- 6 graph (C); 7 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub- 8 paragraph (D) and inserting a semicolon; and 9 (3) by adding at the end the following: 10 ‘‘(E) while a student is participating in a 11 program of study abroad approved for credit by 12 an institution of higher education, distinguished 13 by whether the criminal offense occurred at a 14 location described in subparagraph (A), (B), 15 (C), or (D), or at another location, without re- 16 gard to whether the institution owns or controls 17 a building or property at such location.’’. 18 (b) ADDITIONAL REPORTING FOR PROGRAMS OF 19 STUDY ABROAD.—Section 485(f) of the Higher Education 20 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1092(f)) is amended— 21 (1) by redesignating paragraph (18) as para- 22 graph (19); and 23 (2) by inserting after paragraph (17), the fol- 24 lowing new paragraph: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2875.IH H2875 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 2875 IH ‘‘(18)(A) Each institution of higher education 1 participating in any program under this title, other 2 than a foreign institution of higher education, shall 3 develop and distribute as part of the report de- 4 scribed in paragraph (1), a statement that the insti- 5 tution has adopted and implemented a program to 6 protect students participating in a program of study 7 abroad approved for credit by the institution from 8 crime and harm while participating in such program 9 of study abroad that, at a minimum, includes the 10 following: 11 ‘‘(i) A biennial review by the institution of 12 the programs of study abroad approved for 13 credit by the institution to determine— 14 ‘‘(I) the effectiveness of the programs 15 at protecting students from crime and 16 harm, and whether changes to the pro- 17 grams are needed (based on the most re- 18 cent guidance or other assistance from the 19 Secretary) and will be implemented; 20 ‘‘(II) for the 10 years preceding the 21 date of the report, the number (in the ag- 22 gregate for all programs of study abroad 23 approved for credit by the institution) of— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2875.IH H2875 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 2875 IH ‘‘(aa) deaths of program partici- 1 pants occurring during program par- 2 ticipation or during any other activi- 3 ties during the study abroad period; 4 ‘‘(bb) accidents and illnesses oc- 5 curring during program participation 6 that resulted in hospitalization; 7 ‘‘(cc) sexual assaults against pro- 8 gram participants occurring during 9 program participation; and 10 ‘‘(dd) incidents involving pro- 11 gram participants during the program 12 participation that resulted in police 13 involvement or a police report; and 14 ‘‘(III) with respect to the incidents de- 15 scribed in items (aa) through (dd) of sub- 16 clause (II), whether the incidents oc- 17 curred— 18 ‘‘(aa) on campus; 19 ‘‘(bb) in or on a noncampus 20 building or property; 21 ‘‘(cc) on public property; 22 ‘‘(dd) in dormitories or other res- 23 idential facilities for students; or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2875.IH H2875 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 2875 IH ‘‘(ee) at a location not described 1 in items (aa) through (dd) of this sub- 2 clause, without regard to whether the 3 institution owns or controls a building 4 or property at the location. 5 ‘‘(ii) The crime statistics described in para- 6 graph (12)(E). 7 ‘‘(B) An institution of higher education de- 8 scribed in subparagraph (A) shall— 9 ‘‘(i) provide each student who is interested 10 in participating in a program of study abroad 11 approved for credit by the institution, with a 12 pre-trip orientation session and advising that 13 includes— 14 ‘‘(I) a list of countries in which such 15 programs of study abroad are located; 16 ‘‘(II) all current travel information, 17 including all travel warnings and travel 18 alerts, issued by the Bureau of Consular 19 Affairs of the Department of State for 20 such countries; and 21 ‘‘(III) the information described in 22 clauses (i) and (ii) of subparagraph (A), 23 provided specifically for each program of 24 study abroad approved for credit by the in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2875.IH H2875 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 2875 IH stitution in which the student is consid- 1 ering participation; and 2 ‘‘(ii) provide each student who returns 3 from such a program of study abroad with a 4 post-trip orientation session, including an exit 5 interview that assists the institution in carrying 6 out subparagraph (A) and clause (i) of this sub- 7 paragraph. 8 ‘‘(C) An institution of higher education shall 9 not disaggregate or otherwise distinguish informa- 10 tion for purposes of subparagraph (A) or (B) in a 11 case in which the number of students in a category 12 is insufficient to yield statistically reliable informa- 13 tion or the results would reveal personally identifi- 14 able information about an individual student. 15 ‘‘(D) The Secretary shall periodically review a 16 representative sample of the programs described in 17 subparagraph (A) that have been adopted and imple- 18 mented by institutions of higher education to protect 19 students participating in a program of study abroad 20 described in subparagraph (A) from crime and harm 21 while participating in such program of study 22 abroad.’’. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2875.IH H2875 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS