Pol pushing bill to force campuses to report rapes

A Queens assemblyman is introducing a bill that would order colleges and universities to notify cops within 24 hours of receiving a report of a violent felony or a missing person — in response to the alleged mishandling of rape complaints at Columbia University and other schools.

At Columbia, a student athlete was accused of raping two women on campus and groping a third but got off without punishment because school officials dropped the ball on the investigation — and never encouraged the victims to report the incident to police, the students told The Post.

Currently, there is no law mandating that colleges and universities in New York state tell cops when a rape is reported.

"It's cases like those alleged at Columbia University which are why I introduced the legislation," Democratic Assemblyman Edward Braunstein told The Post.

"All too frequently, we hear stories about on-campus crimes, often sexual in nature, that are swept under the rug by colleges in an effort to protect their reputation.

"This creates a system where criminals are not held accountable for their actions."

According to the Justice Department, one in five college women are victims of actual or attempted sexual assault and 95 percent of these incidents go unreported.

The bill was first introduced in 2011 but amended when it was raised that some women might not want to notify law enforcement about the incident because it would be reliving the experience.

"Survivors are sometimes assaulted by people they know, people they trusted, people who they share friends with," said Sejal Singh, the president of Columbia University Democrats, who in October launched a petition drive calling on school officials to be more transparent with their sexual-assault tribunals.

"Not all survivors want to go to the police. Some of them fear repercussions and some don't want to be interrogated by defense attorneys and be forced to relive their experiences," Singh said.

"Some people just want to move on."

The student group met with university officials Thursday to discuss releasing data on the outcomes of the university hearings, how long the process takes and what types of resources the students receive.

Officials plan to present the students' concerns to the Parent Advisory Council on Student Achievement.

"We've met with administrators and we'll get more details when they bring it to a larger committee making the decision," Singh said.

"They're taking our concerns very seriously."

A spokesperson for Columbia didn't return calls for comment.

Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang

Pol pushing bill to force campuses to report rapes

Dengan url

http://susuvirus.blogspot.com/2013/12/pol-pushing-bill-to-force-campuses-to.html

Susu Virus