The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“CAMPUS SAFETY ACT OF 2009” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E199 on Feb. 4, 2009.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
CAMPUS SAFETY ACT OF 2009
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speech of
HON. SHEILA JACKSON-LEE
of texas
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 748, the ``Center to Advance, Monitor, and Preserve University Security Safety Act of 2009'' or ``CAMPUS''. I would like to thank my colleague Congressman Bobby Scott for introducing this important legislation, as well as the Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, Congressman John Conyers. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
Importantly, H.R. 748 would establish a national center for campus public safety and employ a collaborative effort with local state and federal officials to fight violence on university campuses. This center would train agencies to better deal with emergency situations that occur on university campuses, helping to eliminate unpreparedness at the universities.
The future of our country sits in our classrooms everyday along with those that train them. It is our job as members of Congress to ensure that these future leaders and all those involved in molding them will be taught in a classroom or lecture hall.
H.R. 748 is a bill that takes a great step in ensuring that the potential that is harbored in our classrooms everyday is protected. The events that occurred at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University are disastrous examples of why we need more concentrated protection efforts implemented by the Federal government. The Virginia Tech shooting resulted in the slaying of over 30 members of the Virginia Tech family and many others were wounded. The shooting that occurred on the campus of Northern Illinois University on February 14, 2008 also killed and injured several individuals on the campus. Unfortunately, because these events were the first of their kind for the schools, they were not fully knowledgeable on how to respond. In my home state of Texas, the University of Texas at Austin in 1966 was struck by fear when a sniper from atop the university's bell tower struck and killed 16 people and wounded 31. The large gap in time between these events shows the length of inaction by the Congress in establishing a national center to protect the young minds in our Universities.
With the creation of a National Center for Protection of facilities of higher education, our country can finally begin to use the knowledge gained by officials in all states in conjunction with the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Secretary of Education in a collaborative effort to reduce violence in all higher education facilities across the country.
The CAMPUS Safety Act will create a National Center of Campus Public Safety, which will be administered through the Department of Justice. The Center will train campus public safety agencies, encourage research to strengthen college safety and security, and serve as a clearinghouse for the dissemination of relevant campus public safety information. By having this information, institutions of higher education will be able to easily obtain the best information available on ways to keep campuses safe and secure and how to respond in the event of a campus emergency.
The events that have taken place on the campuses of Virginia Tech, Northern Illinois, and Texas Universities shows that campus violence is not regional nor is it specific to one state and we should not be either of these things when fighting against it. That is why we must act as the front line in that battle against campus violence by passing this legislation and developing a National Center for Campus Public Safety. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
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