VENTURA, Calif., On Jan.1, a new California bill will go into effect that requires the state’s colleges and universities provide incoming students with information on preventing sexual assaults on and near campus.
California Assembly Bill (AB) 1088, which was authored by Assemblywoman Jenny Oropeza, D-Carson, mandates that the information be posted on the Web sites of each California state and community college.
The bill requires the governing board of each community college district and the trustees of the California State University, and requests the regents of the University of California, in collaboration with campus-based and community-based victim advocacy organizations, to provide, as part of established on-campus orientations, educational and preventive information about sexual violence to students at all campuses.
The bill cites statistics showing that women on American college campuses who are from 18 to 24 years of age are at greater risk for becoming victims of sexual assault, domestic violence and stalking than women in the general population or women in a comparable age group. Research estimates the rate of sexual assault among women who are in the age group traditionally considered to be college-aged as one in four.
