On December 8, 2016, U.S. Congresswomen Jackie Speier introduced the Safe Transfer Act, a bill that, if passed, would require colleges to note any violation of sexual violence rules or policies, including rape charges, on students' academic transcripts. The notation would remain on the student's record for five years after the disciplinary proceedings were completed. The student would be made aware of the disclosure on their transcript, be able to view the record, and have the opportunity to provide a written statement to accompany the transcript notation. If the student was cleared of charges, the notation would be removed.

This is in response to multiple situations in which students have been accused or charged with sexual assault, and then transferred to a different college to avoid punishment, with the new school not being aware of the student's violent record. There are many cases in which these students have gone on to commit more acts of sexual violence at a new school.

Though it has faced some opposition, this bill is completely legal under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). In fact, FERPA requires educational institutions to treat disciplinary records as part of the educational record. However, there is currently no universal law or general practice as to how these institutions must note disciplinary acts on transcripts, and many institutions make no notation at all.

Consider this: if a student is accused of academic dishonesty, that violation is put on their academic transcript and follows them throughout their academic career. Shouldn't we take sexual assault at least as seriously as academic cheating?

This is not, as some angry bloggers have said, an attempt to ruin the life of innocent men. (This claim not only makes the assumption that only men commit sexual assault, but also attempts to frame this bill as an act by angry feminists against men, rather than an act by moral citizens against violence.) And comparing, as the linked article does, this bill to a "scarlet letter" is just absolutely ridiculous. Please don't compare something that was used to shame women for having sex to something that is used to warn others of predators who use sex violently.

This bill is being proposed in an effort to ensure that sexual assault perpetrators cannot escape their crime by transferring to another school, and that colleges and universities are aware of the records of the students they are accepting into their community.

I support the Safe Transfer Act.