The Safe Campus Act bill has caught a lot of national attention. The bill, sponsored by Republican Representatives Kay Granger and Pete Sessions of Texas and Matt Salmon of Arizona, deals with how a university can handle cases of sexual assault and domestic violence. The Safe Campus Act states that a victim must report the alleged sexual assault to the police, after which, they will investigate it and then the school can take action (Cohn). The point of the Safe Campus Act is to have law enforcement run investigations for sexual assault and domestic violence on campus because they are trained and have the experience to bring the accused to justice (Castillo). Many Greek organizations have decided that this bill is not something they want to endorse and, therefore, they will not support it. 

Both USA TODAY and the Huffington Post published an article regarding this bill and the negative feedback it has received. USA TODAY published "National sorority, fraternity groups withdraw support from Safe Campus Act," provides an unbiased understanding of what the bill means for students on college campuses and the withdrawal of support from many national sororities and fraternities. It focuses on what the Greek life organizations think about the bill and how they are reacting to it. 

The Huffington Post blogger Elura Nanos, wrote "The Safe Campus Act': A Bill You Need to Know About" which expresses the Safe Campus Act and its effect on college campuses.  KUHN 2KUHN 2She begins by giving a background of current bills that support victims of sexual assault. She provides a very persuasive argument by stating that our elected officials are trying to pass bills that hurt us. She captivates the attention of her readers when she states, "There are lawmakers out there trying to make it easier on rapists and harder on rape victims." From this point on her article becomes even more persuasive. She calls Republican Representative Matt Salmon, Pete Sessions, and Kay Granger misogynists before explaining any details of the bill. Although this is a blog and not a news article, she provides a good understanding of the events taking place at the moment. Her post is easy to follow but incredibly disrespectful toward fraternities. 

Both articles give a look at what this bill could mean for victims of sexual violence on college campuses. "National sorority, fraternity groups withdraw support from Safe Campus Act" provides many quotes from sororities nationwide, which makes college students reading it feel connected and truly understand the topic at hand. ""The Safe Campus Act': A Bill You Need to Know About" labels fraternity in a negative light and makes many disrespectful comments about them. Although Greek life has not always received the best reputation and many organizations make national headlines or cause controversy, this is a bill that will forever change the way colleges protect   and even punish   their students. It will change the universities' control to keep their student body safe. 

An Alpha Phi alumna, Zenya Yap, was quoted by USA TODAY:  "Sexual assault has become more prevalent on college campuses and that is extremely concerning given the fact that students pay to go to school to further their education and career opportunities. Students should feel safe in a place they call their 'second home.' Change starts by taking a stand." 

The National Panhellenic Conference (NPC), an umbrella organization of 26 sororities internationally, withdrew its support from the Safe Campus Act.  The North American KUHN 3KUHN 3Interfraternity Conference (NIC) followed the National Panhellenic Conference's action to withdraw their support. Both organizations supported the Safe Campus Act and had lobbied for it since July, but after their fraternities spoke up about their disapproval of supporting the bill, the NIC withdrew their support (Castillo). 

The victim deserves to receive support from their university, but the Safe Campus Act prevents any disciplinary action or investigation until the police have investigated the alleged crime. They can provide some support, like changing residence halls or schedules (Nanos). The Safe Campus Act takes away the rights of women to be able to choose whether they want to report the attack or not. If the woman does not report the crime to the police, the school cannot do anything to punish the accused and can not perform its own investigation to determine if the accused is even guilty. No legitimate action can be made against the accused if the victim does not report it to the police. The university, who have had the authority under Title IX to investigate these accusations and handle them through disciplinary hearings, now have no authority to handle the case. The Safe Campus Act is supposed to protect the accuser of their due process rights, but by doing so it gives the victim more hoops to jump through in order to feel safe on their campus. In cases of sexual assault, rape is hard to prove. Many people do not report their rape to police because of this fact. Another reason victim does not report their attack is because the process of bringing the attacker to justice is long and difficult. Many victims decide not to because they do not want to see their attacker; they want to move on or they fear their attacker will get off because rape is difficult to prove.  

Although the Safe Campus Act is trying to push people to report crimes of sexual violence, it makes moving on more difficult for the victim because they cannot deal with their attack in the way that they choose. A victim who has been through such a horrific event should KUHN 4KUHN 4be able to decide whether she wants to file a report and go to trial (Nanos). If it is to difficult for her to be on the stand and to see her attacker again, she shouldn't have to. The Safe Campus Act acts like an ultimatum, if you report the crime to the police you will be awarded full support from your university.  It is the university's job to investigate allegations such as these, however this act prohibits any action against the student until there is proof by law enforcement. By forcing a victim to come forward, it will make victims not want to report their attack. 

Alpha Phi was the first sorority to withdraw their support from the bill. The sorority's national office stated, "We believe our sisters who are survivors should have choices in how, when, and to whom they go to for support or to report their crime. They should have their own voice and the support and encouragement they need to move forward including reporting as they choose to." (Castillo).

Although the two articles cover the same topic, they differ in many ways. "The Safe Campus Act: A Bill You Need to Know About" states, "The Fraternity and Sorority PAC think it's great, and aren't concerned with how it would adversely affect victims, so there's that." The Fraternity and Sorority PAC (Political Action Committee). This however, does not mean that all sororities and fraternities stand for this and support it. Castillo bashes fraternities: "Fraternities aren't spending thousands on lobbyists because they're truly concerned about the impact rapists have on society at large. They're trying to protect their own asses. Nice try, though." This statement leads readers to believe that all fraternities have the intention of raping girls and getting out of it because the school cannot do anything unless the girl reports it to the police. That is a terrible stereotype of fraternities and it is evident that she truly believes what she's saying. When she begins speaking about the issue of false accusations she targets fraternity men, yet again. Stating that they should stand up and encourage women to report the crimes, they KUHN 5KUHN 5should prevent men from taking advantage of unconscious girls, prevent scandals by not raping girls, and then states "The saddest thing about Safe Campus is that its support stems neither form a pursuit of justice, nor even from a true mistrust of false accusers. The real support comes from those who believe that our young men cannot be trusted, even those who believe that creating a safe environment on campus is impossible. The logic must be "we can't protect victims from fraternity boys, so we may as well protect fraternity boys from the consequences." (Nanos) Who is to say that these men, who happen to be in a fraternity, support the bill because they believe an accuser should have due process, or that they think by having this act passed, it could prevent rape on college campuses and get rapists locked up rather than expelled. 

The downfall of Elura Nanos' article is that she is so opinionated, it takes away from the actual point of her article. She wants to express the consequences that this bill will have if it is passed. Elura Nanos described what the bill means for college students if the bill gets passed by comparing a theoretical mindset of a girl who was raped before the bill is passed vs. a girl who is raped after the bill is passed. "Currently, girl gets raped, girl tells school. School investigates and calls in police. Girl feels empowered, criminal gets punished on and off campus. Under the Safe Campus Act, girl gets raped and knows talking to campus security will be meaningless unless she is ready to testify in court. Girl is afraid. Girl doesn't report. Rapist goes free."  While this  statement is blunt and informative and Elura Nanos is biased, she makes some good points. 

Both articles do a good job of explaining what the bill is and how it will be enforced. They are informative and helpful in understanding what college students can expect if this bill is passed. For college students, we live in a bubble, some of us only know what is happening on campus and aren't aware of what is going on globally. But this issue hits home for all of us, and if passed, it will change the way our university controls our student body. These sources, although very different, work together to give the readers a well-rounded view of what is happening and also what we could expect in the future. 

