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New York State launches campaign against sexual assaults on campuses

Xinhua, February 26, 2015 Adjust font size:

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday announced a statewide campaign to push for the passage of a Governor's legislation on combating sexual assaults on college campuses.

Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul will embark on a statewide tour to bring the "Enough is Enough" campaign to colleges, meeting with members of student associations, faculties and administrations, as well as service providers and others.

The campaign also includes a website and a video featuring students, advocates and elected officials who support the Governor's policy to address sexual assaults on college campuses.

"We must do more to address sexual assault and rape on college campuses, and this law will ensure that students at all colleges in the State are protected by the same uniform policies that SUNY (the State University of New York) adopted last year," Cuomo said.

"New York must take a stand to combat the culture of sexual violence in higher education ..., and New York should be a leader in the fight against sexual violence on college campuses," he added.

As part of the campaign, New York State Police Superintendent Joseph D' Amico announced a hotline for reporting sexual assaults on college and university campuses.

Specially-trained members will be on-call 24 hours a day to respond to sexual assault calls throughout the State. Over the next several weeks, State Police will also develop response protocols and training courses to share with campus partners.

This year, Cuomo announced a legislation that would codify a sexual assault prevention and response policy previously adopted by SUNY, applying the provisions to all colleges and universities in New York State.

The Governor's legislation will extend the SUNY policy and protections to colleges statewide and ensure that the State's 1.2 million college students are protected with comprehensive and uniform procedures and guidelines.

According to data from New York State, rapes recorded in the State increased from 9.9 per 100,000 in 2009 to 14.0 per 100,000 in 2012. Endi