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Some sexual assault victims on college campuses choose not to report to their schools, advocate Turner Bitton said, for fear that their name and other identifying information will be shared publicly.
In fact, 21 percent of about 1,500 victims polled by the Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault — of which Bitton is the executive director — said they did not report "due to concerns of confidentiality."
This legislative session, Bitton hopes to remove that barrier with a measure sponsored by Rep. Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, that would make victims' communication with campus advocates private and confidential.
"We believe this will encourage more survivors to report," Bitton said after a Monday news conference. "By doing [this] we are putting the victim in charge of their own future."
The bill text will be made by Friday at the latest.
Under current state law, Bitton said, community-based advocates, such as those who work in law enforcement, can provide confidential services to victims. But some advocates based on campuses could be compelled — by law enforcement or university officials, for example — to hand over information about an alleged victim's attack, he said.
There's a reason for that difference, said S. Daniel Carter, board vice president of SurvJustice, a nonprofit that provides legal assistance to survivors of sexual violence. If there is an immediate threat to the safety of students, federal law allows certain types of campus advocates to alert officials, Carter explained.
Bitton pointed out that some students go to campus advocates to receive information about where to get resources, such as counseling, even if they do not wish to report the crime. During these meetings, Bitton said detailed information about the attack often gets shared. And it might not be kept confidential, he said.
"If I report that I was sexually assaulted on campus and I don't want to file a report or I need individual services ... and I decide I don't want to tell the perpetrator's name or I don't want to admit to violating student code or something like that, without that confidentiality protection, institutions could request that information and my victim advocate has no recourse to say no," Bitton said.
Although the text of the bill is not yet available, he said this measure would not impede the responsibilities universities have to report information under Title IX, a federal law that bars sex discrimination on campus, or the Clery Act, which deals with campus safety.
Carter noted that Title IX mandates that when universities have a credible report that a student has sexually abused multiple students, "that pattern of conduct should trigger an inquiry" — even without a formal complaint from an alleged victim.
He used the example of Jason Relopez, a Utah State University student who was sentenced to a year in jail after admitting to raping two female students. The school's Sexual Assault and Anti-Violence Information (SAAVI) office was aware of multiple sexual assault allegations against Relopez more than a year before he was charged by Cache County prosecutors.
"I think it's clear [Relopez] presented an ongoing threat," Carter said. "You'd be hard-pressed, with a straight face, to say the institution doesn't have an obligation to do something when they got a report of that type of violence."
He said the Clery Act's requirements to issue timely warnings to students if there is a danger on campus also would make the proposed Utah measure difficult to implement.
The USU's SAAVI office also was aware of multiple sexual assault allegations against then-student Torrey Green in 2015, when he was an Aggies linebacker. The Salt Lake Tribune reported in July that four women — who did not know each other — separately went to police that year to report being sexually assaulted by Green. Three of the women were students and informed the school, but no charges were filed and it does not appear that the university disciplined or sanctioned Green.
The Tribune story prompted an internal investigation at USU, which resulted in eight recommendations for how to improve the way the university handles sexual assaults. As part of that, the university updated its amnesty and confidentiality policies to help victims understand who must alert university officials to a sexual assault report and who does not.
Green has since been charged in seven alleged sexual assaults between November 2013 and November 2015. His preliminary hearings are set to begin March 29.
Under the proposed measure, Bitton said, SAAVI officials could not inform the university of multiple allegations against the same individual unless they get informed consent from each alleged victim.
They would have to get informed consent "on a case-by-case basis; they couldn't tie it to other cases," Bitton said.
He said he doesn't believe this legislation would be a barrier to preventing an alleged serial rapist from remaining on campus.
The measure also would require campus victim advocates to receive 40-hour, trauma-informed training, Bitton said. That training is offered at UCASA, the Rape Recovery Center in Salt Lake City and Logan-based Citizens Against Physical and Sexual Abuse.
Bitton also announced Monday that UCASA was supporting a measure to bring comprehensive sex education to schools (HB215) and mandatory rape kit testing (HB200). The nonprofit is opposed to HB137, a measure that would require prior written consent from parents for their children to participate in sexual abuse prevention instruction.
Twitter @alexdstuckey