Res. No. 148
Title
Resolution calling upon the United States Congress to pass and the President to sign H.R. 2151/S.954, the Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act, which would recognize cyberbullying as a form of harassment and require higher education institutions to enact anti-harassment policies protecting students based on sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, race, color, national origin, sex, and disability.
Body
By Council Member Dromm
Whereas, Tyler Clementi was an intelligent, talented, gay 18-year-old student who began his first year at Rutgers University in the fall of 2010; and
Whereas, Just weeks into that first year, Tyler took his own life on September 22, 2010 after learning that his college roommate filmed and broadcast over the Internet an otherwise private, intimate sexual encounter between Tyler and another man in their dorm room; and
Whereas, Tyler's suicide and the shameful invasion of privacy leading to it drew national attention to the problem of cyberbullying and harassment among college students; and
Whereas, According to a 2014 study by Carlos P. Zalaquett, Ph.D. and Seria Shia J. Chatters, Ph.D., "Cyberbullying in College: Frequency, Characteristics, and Practical Implications," one in five college students becomes a victim of cyberbullying and harassment; and
Whereas, According to a 2012 report by the Human Rights Campaign, lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender students are nearly twice as likely as their peers to experience harassment based on their sexual orientation or gender identity; and
Whereas, There is currently no federal requirement that U.S. colleges and universities have policies in place protecting students and employees from cyberbullying or from other forms of harassment based on sexual orientation, or gender identity; and
Whereas, H.R. 2151/S.954, known as the Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act (the "Tyler Clementi Act"), was r...
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