An agreement reached earlier this week in Albany means a change to the way sexual assault is dealt with on New York’s college campuses.Legislation due to be signed by the Governor will establish a statewide definition of “affirmative consent,” and define it as a “knowing voluntary and mutual decision among all participants to engage in sexual activity.”
Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul said she personally knows the importance of the law, having met with sexual assault survivors across the state. Hochul said she has taken the opportunity to call one of those survivors from Buffalo.
"She was proud that she was able to step forward and tell her story, which I told all across the state," said Hochul. "Because she said if my story can help others not have to endure what she went through without support, without help, without the right result for the accused, then she says she did the right thing."
Hochul said New York can be proud that it has the toughest laws to combat sexual assault on college campuses anywhere in the nation.
