NWLC Applauds Introduction of the SAFER Act
(Washington, D.C.) Today, Congress introduced the Students’ Access to Freedom & Educational Rights (SAFER) Act to strengthen protections against harassment in schools based on sex, race, color, national origin, disability, and age. The SAFER Act would amend existing civil rights laws to restore protections against harassment and ensure equal educational opportunities for all students. It would also require schools to take additional steps to protect students who have experienced sex-based harassment.
The following is a statement from Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center:
“We are grateful to Congress for introducing the SAFER Act, which would provide additional, crucial protections to student survivors of sexual assault, other forms of sex-based harassment, and other discriminatory harassment. When schools fail to address and prevent harassment, students suffer. Despite the fact that our civil rights laws prohibit discrimination in schools, discrimination and harassment continue to be a pervasive problem that disproportionately plagues women and girls of color, LGBTQI+ individuals, and disabled people. Passing the SAFER Act will allow a return to the promise of our civil rights laws’ protections against harassment in schools and ensure uniform protections for harassment based on sex, race, color, national origin, disability, and age.”
