10 U.S.C. § 7461 — Policy on sexual harassment and sexual violence

(a) Required policy. Under guidance from the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Army must have the Academy's Superintendent write a policy on sexual harassment and sexual violence that covers cadets and other Academy personnel. (b) What the policy must cover. It must include: (1) programs that raise awareness of rape, acquaintance rape, and other sex crimes involving cadets or personnel; (2) what a cadet should do after an incident, including (A) who to report it to and options for confidential reporting, (B) who else the victim should contact, and (C) how to preserve evidence for a possible criminal case; (3) how discipline works in alleged criminal sexual-assault cases; (4) any other punishment allowed once a case of harassment or violence is proven; and (5) required training on the policy for everyone at the Academy, including special training for staff who handle these complaints. (c) Annual assessment. (1) Each year, the Department of Defense must assess how well the Academy's policies, training, and procedures are working. (2) For program years starting in an odd-numbered calendar year, the Army must also survey Academy personnel to measure both reported and unreported incidents of harassment and violence during that year, and to learn what people think about the policies, their enforcement, how common the problem is, and related issues. (3) The Secretary of Defense may delay this assessment during a war or national emergency, but must complete it as soon as practical afterward (or sooner if appropriate), and must tell Congress about any delay within 30 days of deciding to delay it. (d) Annual report. (1) The Superintendent must give the Secretary of the Army a yearly report on sexual harassment and violence at the Academy. (2) Each report must include: (A) how many assaults, rapes, and other sex offenses were reported that year, and how many were confirmed; (B) what policies and steps the Academy took in response; and (C) a plan for what will be done the following year. (3) Reports for odd-numbered-year program years must also include the survey results from (c)(2). (4) The report, with the Secretary of the Army's comments, goes to the Secretary of Defense and the Academy's Board of Visitors; the Secretary of Defense then sends it, with comments, to the Senate and House Armed Services Committees. (e) Transfer requests from assault victims. (1) A cadet who was the victim of an alleged sexual assault or related offense (under specific military justice articles) can ask to transfer to another service academy or into an ROTC program, and the Army must handle that request quickly. (2) The Secretary of the Army must write rules, following Defense Department guidelines, that make sure: (A) victimized cadets are told about this transfer right and their formal requests move quickly through the chain of command; (B) for academy transfers, the Superintendents involved must act within 72 hours of getting the request, must approve it unless there are exceptional circumstances, and must then make the transfer happen as fast as possible; and (C) for ROTC transfers, the same 72-hour action deadline applies, the request must be approved (once the cadet is accepted to the school) unless there are exceptional circumstances, and enrollment must be arranged as fast as possible. (3) If the Superintendent denies a transfer request, the cadet can ask the Secretary of the Army to review it, and the Secretary must act within 72 hours. (4) All records about a transfer request must stay confidential. (5) A cadet who transfers can either keep their original Military Academy appointment or get a new appointment at the academy they transfer to, without being blocked by certain other appointment-limit laws.