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White House's Proposal to Conduct Campus Sexual Assault Surveys Met With Hesitation

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Just more than a day after the White House released its proposal to curb sexual assault on college campuses, several higher education institutions have taken issue with one key recommendation.

According to the Huffington Post, Vice President Joe Biden said school's have "a moral responsibility" to conduct campus climate surveys. The White House said in the report, titled "Not Alone," that it will seek legislative authority by 2016 to require schools to conduct such surveys.

"I challenge every college and university, if they are really serious about protecting students, to conduct anonymous surveys," Biden said in his address. "They have a responsibility to know what's going on on their campuses."

The White House will prepare a package to help colleges distribute a survey in 2015 gathering data on how many students have experienced sexual misconduct on campus. Kevin Kruger, president of NASPA-Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, said a legal obligation would require additional faculty members. He was otherwise supportive of the new report.

"We get very concerned about legislation that requires additional staffing," Kruger told the HP. "Campuses are already very, very tight on resources."

Ada Meloy, general counsel for the American Council of Education, also expressed concerns about funding. She represents a group that lobbies on behalf of about 1,200 higher education institutions and said the federal government should foot the bill if they want to make the surveys mandatory.

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), a supporter of campus sexual assault policy reform, said she will be glad to eventually see the surveys become required. She said a major problem facing policies on sexual assault is faulty statistics. The Clery Act requires schools to accurately report all campus crime in an annual transparency report. These campus climate surveys could potentially expose any discrepancies should they exist.

"If you don't ever really take a hard look at a problem, it's easy to shrug it off and make it seem like it's not a big deal," McCaskill told the HP. "If we can move toward a mandatory climate survey, then universities won't be able to hide behind statistics that are not full and complete."

The White House cited statistics in a previous report that found one in every five women on a college campus to be subjected to sexual assault while only 12 percent reported the attack. The White House also launched NotAlone.gov with their report, a website aimed at providing information and support.

There are more than 50 schools under a pending federal investigation as a result of complaints alleging they mishandled reports of sexual assault. The White House's campaign hopes to end these complaints by demanding a better effort from schools in responding to the reports.

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