New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is encouraging students who are sexual assault victims to report crimes to municipal police rather than campus public safety officers as part of a wider campaign to combat sexual assaults in college.
Cuomo compares sexual assault to “someone getting shot on campus” to emphasize that neither crime is an academic matter. The governor also says that colleges have an incentive to keep sexual assaults out of public view, reports Syracuse.com. Currently, the New York State Police investigate 3,000 sexual assaults each year.
Cuomo’s campaign, Enough is Enough, supports legislation that would require private colleges to use the same sexual assault policy that public colleges adopted two months ago. That legislation defines “affirmative consent,” grants amnesty to students reporting sexual assaults and requires confidentiality polices, among other things.
Also as part of the campaign, state police will provide training to campus officers. Additionally, a 24-hour hotline for reporting sexual assaults on campus has been opened, which can be reached at 1-844-845-7269.
Photo Wikimedia, Diana Robinson
