Gov. Andrew Cuomo is calling for private universities in New York state, such as Syracuse University, Le Moyne College and Cazenovia College, to adopt sexual assault policies recently put in place at the state’s public colleges.

The provisions of the campaign, titled “Enough is Enough,” urge students and victims to seek help from outside law enforcement — rather than campus police — when reporting cases of assault. The policy was adopted for public schools in early December, according to a Feb. 25 Syracuse.com article.

The campaign encourages the public to get involved in advocating for the governor’s policy. It also creates a platform on which students and victims from across the country can push their respective states to further combat sexual violence on college campuses, the governor’s office said in an email.

In addition to those stipulations, the new law grants immunity to any student under the influence of drugs or alcohol who wishes to report a sexual assault, and requires people to give clear and affirmative consent before engaging in sexual activity.

“Affirmative consent is a really big area that students may not have much exposure to before coming to college, and I think it’s a really important educational message that our Office of Health Promotion and others on campus have been and are working to promote,” said Hannah Warren, the public information and internal communications officer for the Department of Public Safety, in an email.

Warren said she believes Cuomo’s law would help to promote that idea if it focused on “education as well as the restructuring of sexual assault reporting.”

“Students deserve to know that their college and their government are protecting them to the greatest extent possible,” the governor’s office said. “It is important that they are aware of their rights if they are victimized, what they can do and the options that are available to them where sexual violence is concerned.”

A new 24-hour hotline in charge of handling sexual assault reports on New York campuses was also launched recently by the New York State Police in response to Cuomo’s initiative.

The final two components of the governor’s prevention policy include extensive training requirements for staff, administrators and students, and a sexual violence victim/survivor bill of rights that informs victims of their legal rights and their accessibility to appropriate resources.

Warren said she also supports “the training requirements for members of the university community — which is something our Title IX office and other programs are proactively doing at SU already.”

Syracuse University already meets a good portion of the law’s requirements, Warren added.

“We’ll follow the law if it’s passed but we don’t foresee any major changes in the way we handle reported incidents or investigations with the (Syracuse Police Department),” she said.

Published on March 4, 2015 at 12:01 am

Contact Brigid: brkenned@syr.edu