{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warrens-jrotc-reforms-in-action-defense-department-puts-key-protections-in-place-to-protect-students", "Warren's JROTC Reforms in Action: Defense Department Puts Key Protections in Place to Protect Students", "2024-10-17", "2024", "2024-10", "Democrat", "Senate", "MA", "Elizabeth Warren", "W000817", "www.warren.senate.gov", "warren", "https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "Warren's JROTC Reforms in Action: Defense Department Puts Key Protections in Place to Protect Students\n\nKey reforms Sen. Warren secured in FY 2024 NDAA to protect JROTC students from sexual misconduct by instructors are now being implemented by DoD\n\n\u201cI fought hard to get these provisions into the NDAA because it\u2019s critical that we protect JROTC students from harm.\u201d\n\nBoston, MA \u2014 In its response to a July letter led by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Chair of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, the Department of Defense (DoD) confirmed that it is implementing key reforms that Senator Warren secured in the fiscal year (FY) FY 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to protect Junior Reserve Officers\u2019 Training Corps (JROTC) students from sexual misconduct by instructors and forced enrollment. The reforms include a standardized memorandum of agreement (MOA) to hold schools and instructors accountable, a student code of conduct and parent/guardian consent form to provide resources and support for students and families, and prohibitions on forced enrollment, requirements for schools to quickly report allegations of instructor misconduct to DoD.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s unthinkable that students who have joined JROTC to develop leadership skills and learn about military service have been abused by their instructors \u2014 adults they\u2019re supposed to be able to trust,\u201d said Senator Warren. \u201cI fought hard to get these provisions into the NDAA because it\u2019s critical that we protect JROTC students from harm. I'm glad to see the Department of Defense taking important steps to implement these reforms, and I\u2019ll keep working to make sure they\u2019re put into action as effectively as possible.\u201d\n\nIn July, Senator Warren led Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, in urging the Department of Defense to fully implement FY 2024 NDAA provisions from the Junior Reserve Officers\u2019 Training Corps (JROTC) Safety Act of 2023. The letter followed a Warren-led Senate investigation revealing that between 2012 and 2022, DoD had received 114 allegations of violence, including sexual abuse and sexual harassment of JROTC students by instructors. The investigation was conducted after a 2022 New York Times report that exposed an alarming pattern of sexual assault and harassment in the program. In many cases, reports of sexual harassment or assault went nowhere and instructors who were reported would escape without consequence.\n\nKey provisions being implemented as a direct result of Senator Warren\u2019s provisions from the JROTC Safety Act in the FY 2024 NDAA and her ongoing advocacy include:\n\nHolding schools and instructors accountable: DoD has standardized a MOA to use with institutions with JROTC programs. The addendums specific to each military service are being finalized and expect to be fully used this academic year. DoD developed the JROTC Instructor Prohibited Activities Acknowledgement form, which JROTC Instructors must review and acknowledge annually. DoD is also requiring a 1:30 ratio of oversight personnel to JROTC units for annual in-person inspections.\n\nSupporting students and families: DoD has established a JROTC student code of conduct and parent/guardian consent form to provide resources for students to report instructor misconduct. Parents, guardians and students will need to acknowledge it annually, and it has been \u201ctranslated into Spanish to minimize language barriers.\u201d In addition to identifying the school\u2019s Title IX coordinator, it provides them military service points of contact so that parents and guardians and students can reach out to DoD directly with concerns about instructor conduct.\n\nProhibiting forced enrollment: Under the new JROTC student code of conduct and parent/guardian consent form, the student and their parent or guardian must explicitly acknowledge that the program is voluntary. The new standardized MOAs also require the school district or local education activity to also acknowledge that JROTC is a voluntary program.\n\nTimely reporting requirements for schools and DoD: Under the new MOA, schools must \u201creport to the Military Service point of contact, within 1 business day, any disciplinary or administrative action levied upon a JROTC instructor\u2026the initiation of any investigation into alleged JROTC instructor misconduct\u2026and any changes in the employment status of a JROTC instructor.\u201d DoD has also created procedures to \u201censure that such reports are quickly communicated\u201d to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and has implemented a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Department of Education (ED) to share information about possible Title IX violations.\n\nImproving communication between DoD and ED: DoD and ED have established an MOU to formalize and improve information sharing on possible Title IX violations.\n\nNew data on JROTC Title IX violations in academic year 2022-2023: In response to a reporting requirement from Congress, DoD reported 21 alleged Title IX violations in the 2022-2023 academic year, including for sexual misconduct, harassment, and discrimination. The report also provides a list of actions DoD took during the 2022-2023 academic year to mitigate sexual misconduct and harassment in JROTC.\n\nAs Chair of the Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, Senator Warren has led efforts to hold the Department of Defense and the Department of Education accountable for their management of the JROTC program:\n\nIn May 2023, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), along with Representatives Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), Stephen F. Lynch (D-Mass.), Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas), and Chrissy M. Houlahan (D-Pa.), applauded the Government Accountability Office (GAO) for launching a review of the JROTC program following a letter from the lawmakers requesting such a review.\n\nIn March 2023, chairing her first hearing of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, Senator Warren highlighted the importance of addressing existing failures in the Junior Reserve Officers\u2019 Training Corps (JROTC).\n\nIn February 2023, Senators Warren, Hirono, Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), sent a letter to the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Education (ED) amid reports of students being forced to join the JROTC program.\n\nIn September 2022, during a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Warrenquestioned top DoD personnel officials on disturbing reports of widespread patterns of sexual misconduct by instructors in the JROTC program, where they admitted DoD\u2019s lack of adequate oversight to prevent sexual misconduct by instructors and ensure the safety of students.\n\nIn September 2022, Senator Warren, along with Senators Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Hirono (D-Hawaii), opened an investigation into the JROTC program, following reports of widespread patterns of sexual misconduct by instructors in the program.\n\n###\n\nNext Article Previous Article", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:55:29Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warrens-jrotc-reforms-in-action-defense-department-puts-key-protections-in-place-to-protect-students"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3475269079208374, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}