Relates to compliance with federal reporting standards for incidences of sexual assault on SUNY and CUNY campuses

BILL NUMBER:S7954

Title of bill

An act to amend the education law, in relation to documenting campus sexual assault and related complaints at SUNY and CUNY institutions

Purpose

To address the alarming increase of sexual assaults on public university and college campuses.

Summary of specific provisions

Section 3 requires that the president or administrative officer of each SUNY and CUNY institution appoint or designate an employee meeting certain education qualifications with the responsibility of coordinating compliance with Title IX and XX and creating a data base cataloguing incidents, status and disposition of sexual assault incidents and to make such data available on the institution's web page by an active link between September 1st and May 1st of every year.

Sections 4 and 5 require the Chancellor of SUNY and the Chancellor of CUNY to develop an anonymous and standardized survey of on-campus sexual assault incidents.

Section 6 provides that failure to comply with the aforementioned provisions will result in the suspension of state provided administrative and operations funds, with the exception of funds allocated to student services and faculty salaries.

Justification

In 2013 there were more than twice as many incidents of sexual assault reported as five years earlier and such offenses climbed by 40 percent overall between 2012 and 2013. The New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault reports that:

* At least 1 in 4 college women will be the victim of a sexual assault during her academic career;

* At least 80% of all sexual assaults are committed by an acquaintance;

* More than 70% of rape victims knew their attackers, compared to about half of all violent crime victims;

* There are 35.3 incidents of sexual assault per 1,000 female students on a campus

The NYS Office of Domestic and Sexual Violence and the NYS Office of Victim Services have reported that Intimate Partner Violence, sexual assault, and stalking are widespread on college campuses and that they may occur one at a time or concurrently. Moreover these offices report that nearly 89% of females reported experiencing at least one incident of physical or sexual aggression by the end of college and that 42% of the stalking incidences reported by college women were perpetrated by a current or former partner.

Sexual assaults on and around college campuses, are a vastly underreported crime. As of 2013, under new federal guidelines,

colleges were required for the first time to compile and disclose the number of reports of dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking on their campuses.

This bill codifies the requirement for public universities, colleges and institutions in New York State to report these incidents. Moreover, this bill but moreover makes the reporting of incidents a consumer information tool for students in determining the institution of higher learning they will attend.

Legislative history

N/A

Fiscal impact on state

N/A

Effective date

This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after the bill shall become law.