By Juan Soto
State Assemblyman Ed Braunstein (D-Bayside) said Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law a bill he introduced that requires state universities and colleges, as well as private universities, to report violent felonies to law enforcement agencies no more than 24 hours after the incidents occurs.
The legislation, Braunstein said, sends a strong message that the state “is taking the problem of campus sexual assault seriously.” He pointed out, “The number of violent crimes reported on campuses, and not investigated by local authorities, is disturbing and simply inexcusable”
Cuomo signed the bill, approved by both the state Senate and the Assembly, just several days after he announced that in an effort to reduce sexual assaults on the State University’s 64 campuses, SUNY is adopting a “yes means yes” uniformed policy requiring “clear, unambiguous, informed and voluntary agreement” between partners.
The new policy applies to about 463,000 SUNY students.
“All too frequently, there are on-campus crimes that are swept under the rug by colleges in an effort to protect their reputation,” the assemblyman said.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) said, “Over the years, the unsettling rise in the number of violent crimes committed against students on college campuses has shown us that we need to do more.”
According to the Department of Justice and The White House Council on Women and Girls, one in every five college females has been the victim of a sexual assault, but only 12 percent report the attack to law enforcement agencies.
Juan Soto
