Washington, DC — This week, Representative Lucy McBath (D-GA) shared tearful remarks as she detailed the stories of those lost to hazing survivors during the markup of her bill, the Stop Campus Hazing Act. H.R.5646 improves reporting and prevention of hazing on college campuses and was approved overwhelmingly by a bipartisan vote of 28-2 in the House Committee on Education and Workforce. The bill is co-led by Representative Jeff Duncan (R-SC) in the House and by U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA). The legislation now heads to the House floor for a vote.
Representative McBath’s remarks can be found here or in the transcript below:
As many of you know, my son, Jordan, was killed in a shooting in 2012.
While the circumstances may be just somewhat different, I know the pain of losing a child. I know the hole it leaves in your soul and the questions it leaves you to continue to dwell on for the rest of your lives.
The feelings of guilt and the yearning to do anything that you can to reverse the irreversible and spend just a little more time with that person that you lost. To tell them all the things you wish you could have during their short time here on Earth.
But we know we aren’t that lucky.
The only thing that we can do now is try to harness our pain and do something positive with it. To try to make a lasting change that will prevent other families from suffering a similar tragedy and creating a long-lasting legacy that truly speaks to the person that you loved so deeply.
It’s the same reason that I decided to run for Congress, and the same reason that drove Jeanne Clery’s parents to take their power back as parents and get the Clery Act signed into law after the tragic killing of their daughter on campus in 1986.
Jeanne Clery’s parents made the same argument that I have heard time and time again from families who have lost loved ones to collegiate hazing.
“If only we had known.”
“If only we had been made aware sooner.”
“If only we had been given a clearer picture of the real situation on the ground, maybe I could have done something different, and maybe my son or my daughter or my brother or my sister would still be here with me.”
That’s what this bill simply is about.
It’s about empowering students and families, so that they can make an informed decision for themselves about what school they or their loved one attends or the club they may join and hopefully save their lives.
I want to say thank you to the DeVercellys, the Piazzas, the Hipps family, the Gruvers, the Branhams, the Kowiaks, and all the families and the loved ones that are here today and watching from home that have been fighting for these changes to honor children and their loved ones that were taken from us far too soon.
I also want to thank Representatives Jeff Duncan and Glenn Thompson for their commitment to seeing this through, as well as Ranking Member Scott.
I want to thank Chairwoman Foxx for using the majority’s limited time to mark this bill up today and for your and your team’s hard work on this incredibly important issue that we have been trying to get something done on for so long.
And I encourage all of my colleagues to support this truly bipartisan piece of legislation that saves our children’s lives. They are the least of these. They deserve to be kept safe in their homes, in their communities, and simply when they go off to college.
I look forward to getting this bill signed into law by the President in this Congress and providing a sense of relief and closure for all of you that have been left behind.