New York may soon require that colleges notate on transcripts when students are found responsible for sexual assault.
Virginia enacted a similar law in May requiring that certain sexual violence violations be noted on students' transcripts.
The "Enough Is Enough" bill has passed both the New York Senate and the state Assembly.
If the legislation is enacted, New York would also become the second state to require that colleges use an "affirmative consent" standard in judging sexual assault -- essentially replacing "no means no" with "only yes means yes" as the benchmark for determining whether sex is consensual. Several other states are considering their own affirmative consent proposals, reported the Huffington Post.
When a student is found responsible for sexual assault, the New York bill would require public and private colleges and universities in the state to note on the student's transcript that they were either suspended or expelled "after a finding of responsibility for a code of conduct violation."
An accused student who withdraws from school while facing code-of-conduct charges but without finishing the disciplinary process will have a note on their transcript saying they "withdrew with conduct charges pending." An appeal process would allow students to petition to have their transcript cleared one year after they complete a suspension, the Huffington Post said.
