Congressman Ted Deutch has cosponsored H.R. 1048, the Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act of 2011. In September 2010, Tyler Clementi, a freshman at Rutgers University, took his own life after his roommate and another student invaded his privacy and harassed him over the Internet.  He was eighteen years old. Tyler is one of thousands of college students who are harassed and bullied on campus and over the Internet.  Students who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) are particularly susceptible to harassment and abuse. According to a recent study by Campus Pride, LGBT students are twice as likely to experience harassment and seven times more likely to indicate that the harassment was based on that identity. Unfortunately, there is currently no requirement that colleges and universities have policies in place to protect their students from harassment, nor is there Federal aid dedicated to programs that prevent and reduce harassment against college students. The Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act, named in memory of Tyler Clementi, supports colleges as they put in place and strengthen anti-harassment and anti-bullying programs. H.R. 1048 ensures that all college campuses develop and distribute a harassment policy and make sure students know what steps to take if they are being harassed.  The bill would also authorize a new grant program to help fund programs and initiatives that prevent the harassment of students on college campuses. 

You can read H.R. 1048, the Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act of 2011, here.