In an effort to enhance the Campus Safety Act of 1999, Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara (D-Rotterdam) helped pass legislation requiring colleges and universities to report violent felonies and missing students to law enforcement within 24 hours of an incident (A.2089-B).

“We have a moral obligation to keep our students and campuses safe. It is essential that crimes get reported as soon as possible because time is of the essence, especially when it comes to a missing person scenario,” said Assemblyman Santabarbara.

Sadly, studies indicate that 18 to 20 percent of female students are sexually assaulted during their time in college.¹ Additionally alarming is the fact that these incidences are severely underreported, with just 12 percent of such attacks reported.² Research also shows that in the majority of cases, the victim’s attacker is an acquaintance, classmate or former boyfriend.³ Although harder to measure, college men are also victims of campus sexual assault, Assemblyman Santabarbara noted.

This legislation updates the Campus Safety Act of 1999 by requiring all colleges and universities to report all violent felonies and missing persons to local law enforcement no more than 24 hours after the incident is reported to the college or university itself. The bill also incorporates components of the federal Campus Sexual Assault Victims Bill of Rights, which gives victims of a sexual offense the right to decide whether or not to report such an offense to local law enforcement.

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1. nytimes.com/2014/05/03/opinion/washington-weighs-in-on-campus-assaults.html

2. nytimes.com/2014/04/29/us/tougher-battle-on-sex-assault-on-campus-urged.html

3. s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1149920/white-house-report-on-campus-sex-assault.pdf