A bipartisan House bill introduced last month would make it mandatory for higher education institutions to report any campus accidents resulting in major student injuries or fatalities.
The College Operational Reporting of Emergencies Involving Teens and Young Adults Safety Act of 2022, also known as the COREY Safety Act, is named in honor of Corey Hausman, a college freshman who passed away on September 12, 2018 after falling off his skateboard on campus.
Democratic representatives Joe Courtney and Jim Himes from Connecticut are the bill’s sponsors.
The COREY Act seeks to expand on the CLERY Act, which requires colleges to submit information on substance abuse, sexual assault, and hate crimes. However, the CLERY Act leaves out accidents accounting for 11 percent of student deaths every year, according to the American College Health Association.
“Students go off to college and university with the goal of gaining experiences, skills and accreditation for opportunities later in life,” Rep. Courtney told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’s one of the greatest things a parent gets to witness — to see our kids work hard and achieve these opportunities — and while not every tragedy can be prevented, we need to know that schools are taking meaningful steps to keep students safe on campus.”
Focusing on Campus Safety
According to the COREY Act, transportation-related mishaps (on foot, bikes, scooters, skateboards, and cars), slips and falls, alcohol and drug overdoses, choking or drowning are among the accidents that would need to be disclosed.
The legislation is based on a law unanimously passed in Connecticut last year that established similar reporting obligations for all state campuses.
Colleges would also need to give students information on the nearest trauma center to their campus.
“I’ve heard of a lot of other similar types of accidents and incidents,” Corey’s mother, Nannette Hausman, told ABC7. “And so the reason for the federal bill is so that incidents like my son’s would be counted as a safety event so that there can be more focused emphasis on improvement.”