According to The Associated Press, reports of sexual assault have increased on New York state college campuses under the new policy.
In almost two years since the SUNY system adopted a new policy defining consensual sex and rights of rape victims, the number of schools under federal investigation for handling of sexual violence increased from four to 25.
According to The Associated Press, critics argued that for years many U.S. colleges hid such crimes behind federal privacy laws in an effort to publicly protect their names.
Experts say the spike reflects better reporting the incidents rather than an increase in sexual violence on college campuses.
Oswego State Title IX coordinator Lisa Evaneski said she is not surprised by the increase in reports on SUNY campuses.
According to Evaneski, the administration has noticed a similar trend at Oswego State.
“We have seen an increase over the last few years as a result of more training and awareness raising,” Evaneski said.
On Oct. 2, 2014, Gov. Andrew Cuomo met with the New York Board of Trustees to introduce a new system-wide policy to combat sexual assault.
The new SUNY policy and New York law were put into effect July 2015, which was in line with the requirements that came with changes to the Violence Against Women Act.
Since then, New York state colleges have focused on training students and faculty to report sexual assault, which Evaneski believes is the direct cause for the increase in these reports.
“Students are learning more about what to report, how to report and what will happen after something is reported,” Evaneski said. “They are able to make an informed decision about what to do next. I think students are feeling confident that we will help them to the best of our ability when they report something.”
This increase consists of reports that go directly to Evaneski.
“We get a number of cases each year that happen off campus, outside of our county or out of state,” Evaneski said.
According to Evaneski, there are currently parts of the new policy and law that were already being done at Oswego State before they became a requirement for all schools in New York, such as mandated reporting for all athletes and student organization leaders.
This past fall semester, Oswego State trained approximately 2,500 students and employees on the policy.
A great deal of the administration’s prevention efforts are through bystander intervention training, Evaneski said.
“We are hoping our students will step in and help to prevent situations from occurring,” Evaneski said. “Another part of the prevention work is making sure all students understand what consent means.”
According to Evaneski, there are stricter policies statewide that require the sanctions for sexual assault to be consistent across SUNY schools, including suspension or expulsion as well as transcript notations.
“SUNY has been a leader in the last few years in sexual and interpersonal violence prevention and response,” Evaneski said.
Currently, the Title IX office is hosting “Escalation,” a dating violence prevention workshops sponsored by the One Love Foundation.
“While we have done some great work, we have a long way to go to change the culture,” Evaneski said. “I believe our students can be a part of that.”
