Governor Walker's UW-System Proposed Budget Eliminates Sexual Assault Reporting On Campus

All employees and faculty at the UW-System will no longer be required to report sexual assaults to the dean of students, legislature and the Wisconsin Department of Justice, according to Governor Walker's proposed budget.

By H. Nelson Goodson 

Hispanic News Network U.S.A.

February 27, 2015

Madison, WI - Governor Scott Walker's (R) proposed 2015-2017 budget to cut $300M from the UW-System also eliminates the requirement to provide oral, written or electronic information about sexual assault to freshman during orientation including all students about how to report such crimes. The budget also would prevent anyone employed by the university or college who witness a sexual assault or any student reporting such a crime to an employee from reporting sexual assaults to the dean of students. It would also prevent the universities from reporting methods implemented full filling the requirement to report such crimes to the legislature and would eliminate sexual assault statistics from student acquaintances committed on campus to be included in reports. Any sexual assault statistics from previous years or current would not be required to be reported to the Wisconsin Department of Justice to be included in their crime reports.

Walker's UW-System Budget text eliminating the requirement to report sexual assaults or provide information during orientation of new students at universities and college campuses. 

25. DELETE LANGUAGE RELATED TO SEXUAL ASSAULT INFORMATION AND REPORTING

Governor: Delete the requirement that the Board direct each institution and college campus to incorporate oral and written or electronic information on sexual assault in its orientation program for newly entering students and to supply all students enrolled in the institution or college campus with the same information in either printed or electronic form.

Delete the requirement that the Board of Regents submit an annual report to the Legislature regarding the methods used to comply with the above requirement.

Delete the requirement that any person employed at an institution who witnesses a sexual assault on campus or receives a report from a student enrolled in the institution that the student has been sexually assaulted report the assault to the dean of students.

Delete the requirement that each institution report annually to the Department of Justice (DOJ) statistics on sexual assaults and on sexual assaults committed by acquaintances of the victims that occurred on the campus of that institution in the previous years, and that DOJ include those statistics in appropriate crime reports.

[Bill Section: 1171]

64-page UW-System budget download Link (PDF): http://1.usa.gov/1DhF6wO

Update: The USA Today reported that a UW Spokesman Alex Hummel said, that the UW had asked Governor Walker to remove the requirements from the proposed two year budget for reporting sexual assaults because federal law already requires it to provide the information to the U.S. Department of Education and reporting to the state would be a duplication.
Isn't the Wisconsin State Legislature who funds the UW-System and shouldn't they get the information, including students who pay tuition at the universities be able to report and get orientation about sexual assaults?, interesting concept to keep sexual assault reports from the state and the WIDOJ.