Proponents of affirmative consent (discussed earlier here) argue that, to avoid sexual assault charges, you should have to prove your sexual partner gave clear, conscious and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity – and not just at the outset, but before each new action. While this may strike you as closer to a protracted […]
Category: Sexual Assault
Combating Campus Sexual Assaults without Stacking the Deck against the Innocent
Some colleges and universities have for years come under fire, from students and critics outside the campus accusing them of having done little to address or prevent instances of sexual attacks against students– or perhaps even to have covered them up. A partial response was a federal law requiring campuses to report violent crimes; another […]
College Assaults: Gauging the Problem’s Size Helps Avoid Extreme Steps
In the previous articles in this series, I noted that advocates for “yes means yes” and similar measures billed as fighting college sexual assaults frequently make exaggerated claims on how frequent such offenses are. But if you’re looking for workable solutions, it’s important not to overstate the real dimensions of the problem. Here’s one example […]
New “Affirmative Consent” law in New York State Colleges
There is a new legal requirement in a few states — including New York — which have recently adopted laws requiring colleges and universities within their jurisdiction to revise their codes of student conduct to include some new mandates related to sexual conduct. (Eligibility for state financial aid programs is the carrot and stick that […]