YOUNG: LET’S GET SERIOUS ABOUT CAMPUS RAPE

Newsday/Cathy Young
9/1/14

As college students arrive on campuses, legislative efforts to combat sexual violence in thenation's schools are escalating.  The California legislature passed a groundbreaking bill thatrequires the state's colleges to use an affirmative consent standard in evaluating sexual assaultcomplaints so that consent cannot be inferred from the absence of a no.  Meanwhile,bipartisan legislation was introduced in the US Senate, with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) asone of its authors, to address campus sexual assault, which the sponsors say affects 1 in 5 collegewomen.  The California bill would protect intoxicated victims who lack the capacity to sayno.